


Of Demons and Gods

by Eguko



Category: Haikyuu!!, 大神 | Okami (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, BAMF Hinata Shouyou, Characters will be added as story progresses, Demons, Fights, Gods, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Self-Indulgent, Spoiler Free Tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 37,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28605636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eguko/pseuds/Eguko
Summary: After dreaming night after night of a boy he has no recollection of, Kageyama Tobio finally gets to meet him, only to discover that his world was far smaller than he previously thought. Now, when old dark legends threaten to be reawakened, Kageyama will be forced to carry on with his legacy, coming to terms with who he is and the expectations of such a burden. Romance, betrayals and mistakes will plague the journey of the young group of Kami as they make their way from simple constellations to all powerful deities.Or the self indulgent, heavily Okami inspired fic with the HQ cast as the Celestial Brush Gods.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 35
Kudos: 36





	1. The boy with the hair of fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Eguko here with a weird attempt at a Haikyuu x Okami crossover (my favorite video game), but you don’t need to have played the game to understand the plot. I’m only taking the Kami’s powers, some bosses and veeeery loosely weaving in the game’s story. Although, as this will have some elements of the game and if you don’t want to be spoiled, well, I do recommend you to go play the game first (as it's a masterpiece anyway) and then come back to read this.
> 
> Disclaimer: The game (and consequently this fic) is heavily inspired by japanese folklore and imagery, I’m no expert and I’m still learning and studying about it as the fic progresses, so any mistakes about structures, names, explanations, definitions, imagery, etc. I’m deeply and utterly sorry! Please point them out so I can fix them! Thank you so much!
> 
> Infinite thanks to ghostofcalum for all the help with grammar and ideas! You are the most amazing friend ever!
> 
> I really hope you enjoy it!

The night was dark, the darkest he’d ever seen it, but he didn’t seem to care, he just kept on running. He only had one thing on his mind. He had to catch up with the lonely figure that insisted on getting further and further away from him. No matter how many times Kageyama Tobio kept on calling at his back, the other one kept on making distance. It would seem impossible to know where he was going if it weren’t for its only light source, the almost too bright stars in the sky. He looked up at them, thankful for their constant light which seemed to just point him in the direction he should be going. Like a beacon, as if it were a sign. Kageyama felt their determination in helping him to make it on time.

He could hear his beating heart crashing against his ribs, as his surroundings became muddled and unfamiliar. In his mind, he recognized where he was going, but he couldn’t be sure of having ever been here before. He stopped his chase when the giant red Inari gate came into view and dread crept onto his spine. Something was about to happen and he knew it was going to be bad. Very, very bad.

He touched the red gate and before him the path opened up; a sea of the endless stairs surrounded by thousands and thousands of equally crimson and big wooden torii. He glanced up, finding at the very top, the small figure that had eluded him, standing in all his glory. There was a circle of light hovering on his back reflecting the light of the vibrant stars from above. His orange hair casting a subtle dancing light, which in the dark of the night, it almost seemed as roaring flames reaching to the heavens. Kageyama swallowed in awe, mesmerized by the figure, before the uneasiness of the imagery made him run his way up the stairs like a madman.

Suddenly, the lights from the sky went out and a complete darkness engulfed the night. There was no moon to cast guidance, no stars to follow in their path. He was now chasing after the sparks that came from the boy atop of the stairs, who danced, moved and fought against the shadowy tendrils lashing against him in the middle of the temple’s stone plaza. 

Kageyama managed to get to the top of the stairs as the darkness became almost blinding. Panting in desperation, he looked for any signs of the well being of the boy, only to find the circle of light that had been perched at his back, laying now discarded at the sidelines. The cracked mirror, dulled, spilling its shards all around its metallic frame; no longer able to reflect anything. No means to protect the figure from the impending shadows creeping closer and closer to the boy.

Kageyama yelled the boy’s name in agony as he ran towards him. He outstretched his hand in a desperate attempt to reach him, to warn him of the shadows; but the smaller boy kept his figure still and stared back at him with the saddest eyes Kageyama had seen in his life. The boy mouthed the words with a defeated smile directed towards Tobio, just as the shadows took hold of everything around him.

Kageyama gasped for air, jolting up and straightened himself from his bed. He was drenched in sweat, but he was sure that the droplets running down his cheeks weren’t from it. He’d been crying, he knew it. 

He looked outside the window of his small room, receiving a silent reply from the full moon and stars on display. It always managed to calm his beating heart and shaking hands whenever he woke up after dreaming about the mysterious orange haired boy. After a couple of nights of waking up covered in sweat and tears, Kageyama reasoned that he had to  _ know _ him. Maybe he had forgotten about the boy at some point in his life, but it was clear that his body, his mind, his  _ soul _ , still had some kind of connection to the boy with the fiery hair. He knew he yelled the boy’s name in his dreams, but as soon as he woke up, the name had already been forgotten. 

After the first few vivid dreams, he had started to make a more avid effort to find more about the boy of his dreams. He started by searching in his school’s yearbooks. If he saw him in his dreams, according to the Internet at least, it meant that he had at least  _ seen _ him before, proving Tobio’s theory that he, in fact, knew the boy already. After his search had proven fruitless, he started to look at his surroundings more carefully; he stole glances at bystanders on the street. He started watching movies, following the news about famous people to see if, maybe, the boy had been in an action scene that just kept looping on in his head. Or maybe, just maybe, the boy was a famous character from a videogame that he forgot he had even played. 

But after months of searching and looking for  _ him _ , he hadn’t found anything close to an answer while the dreams had only become more vivid and more frequent. At this point, he just wanted to  _ know _ . Why was he calling for the other’s name? Why was he so desperate to find him? What were the words the other boy kept on mouthing at him that made him wake up so desperate and in so much pain every time?

Kageyama exhaled heavily before taking a look at his alarm clock. 5:45 am. He wouldn’t get much by trying to go back to bed at this point. He most definitely wasn’t going to get any rest before the alarm rang and by how soaked he was, he just wanted a shower. He sighed defeated, today’s classes were going to be long as hell.

  
  


\-----

“You woke up early.” The girl teased Kageyama as she took her seat on the table. She saw the deep dark circles under her brother’s eyes and furrowed her eyebrows in worry. “Another bad dream?” She asked in worry.

“Yeah.” He replied, taking another mouthful of rice for breakfast. 

At the very monosyllabic reply from her brother, Kageyama Miwa huffed in annoyance.

“You know you can talk to me about them, right?” She pointed at him with her chopsticks, pouting angrily. “That’s what big sisters are for. Confide in me a little, will you?” She smiled fondly as she stared in worry at her brother before daring to throw a follow up to her question. She laid down her chopstick on the table, holding her brother’s gaze with warm eyes and a soft smile before delicately placing one hand over the boy’s. “Is it about mom and dad?”

Kageyama stared back at Miwa a little longer than he needed, wondering, remembering when nightmares of his parent's deaths would wake him up screaming, only to be lulled back to sleep with the soft caresses and words from his sister. Though in all honesty, nowadays the distant memories of his parents seemed more like a soft echo, barely a whisper. A reconstruction of ideas that someone else once told him about them. They felt so distant, to the point that sometimes, Kageyama was even unsure if the time they shared together had even been real. 

He sighed to himself. Maybe just saying that his lack of sleep was because of the return of those nightmares and fears would be easier than trying to explain the dreams that had been haunting him recently. Even he was having trouble figuring them out and it was  _ his _ dream. Imagine trying to explain to his sister why he woke up crying and with the desperate need to look for a boy he had never seen in his life before. Nah. Not happening.

"Yeah." He replied as tired as he felt. "The dreams have come back." 

Miwa stared back at him with pitiful yet soft eyes. She drew her hand to pet Tobio's hair softly as the boy leaned into the touch, more out of habit, but still grateful for the comforting gesture. The girl had practically raised him; displays of affection between them were second nature by now, even though most of the time they weren't initiated by the younger brother.

"I made your lunch for today. Don't forget to take it." Miwa ruffled the boy's head sweetly. "Cheer up Tobio, I'll make curry tonight to scare those bad dreams away, ok?" She smiled tenderly as she rose up from the table and made her way to the front door. "Don't be late for school! I  _ will _ know!" She called from the foyer as the sound of the door closing announced her leaving the house.

He played a little more with the rice in his bowl before deciding that he wasn’t hungry anymore. He stood up to take care of the dishes, glancing at the calendar stuck on the fridge’s door as he did so. A little magnet of a broom and his name on today’s date signaled his turn to take care of the cleaning of the small shinto shrine that their family looked over. It had been the role of his parents as priest and priestess of the shrine, but with them gone and the little attraction that the shrine brought, it hadn’t been entrusted to a new priest yet, relaying the responsibilities of looking after it to both him and Miwa. 

Kageyama groaned softly. 

He was looking forward to finishing his last year of high school and starting his life far away from the boring and uninteresting duties of a shrine keeper wanna be. 

The walk to school was uneventful. The same view, the same pathways, the same people. Today hadn’t been his lucky day either. Maybe if he started going through a different route, the scenery would change. Maybe the mysterious boy could be just around the corner, waiting for Kageyama to venture outside of his comfort zone. On the other hand, if he changed his usual route and the boy were to be waiting for him at the end of it, he would end up missing him completely too.

He chuckled at the thought.

Since when had he become so paranoid and obsessed? He just needed some rest. Maybe sleeping through the first few classes would make him recover his senses.

He stopped at a red light. He adjusted the straps of his bag when a reflected light got him directly on his eye. He blinked away from its source, moving his head out of the way of the annoying spark, trying to see where it was coming from. 

A flash of orange crossed his line of vision and his heart skipped a beat. 

He tossed and turned trying to follow what he thought he had seen, but the light kept on making him unable to. There was a loud honking and the uncomfortable reflected light disappeared as the cars started to move. He felt a bump to his side that threatened to topple him over as the rest of the pedestrians made their way to the other side of the street. He managed to recover quickly, turning his head in every direction to look for the orange blur, but as fast as it had come, it had already disappeared in the busy morning street. 

He blinked away his daze, running across the busy street after realizing he still had to cross before the lights changed if he wanted to make it on time. By the time he got to the school gates, his tiredness, his daze and his paranoia had only doubled.

\-----

School had been… weird. After his brief encounter with whatever the orange thing had been in the morning, he hadn’t been able to shake the feeling of being  _ watched. _ He had become jumpy and alert to everyone and everything. It was as if all his senses were on high alert, making him feel uneasy, as if there was the threat of immediate danger looming in every corner, well, not physical danger per se, but for a learning environment, it certainly felt almost as if it was. 

At his morning lecture his usual teacher had been absent, so he had been replaced for the only other teacher that held a personal grudge against Kageyama, making him the sole object of his snarky remarks and belittling observations about his grades. At lunch, not only he had forgotten his bento due to his tiredness, but the only milk left in the vending machine had ended squished and spilt mercilessly on the floor after a kid had hit him with a soccer ball by mistake. And No. Even though the student had asked for forgiveness, the shittiest day of Kageyama had not been fixed by an endless bowing motion and a rosary of apologies. To make matters worse, the end of the day had him in the same classroom with the same horrible teacher from the morning lecture. 

When the bell rang, announcing their dismissal, he groaned in relief at the ending of this seemingly eternal torture. He stood up and made his way back home, just ignoring how twitchy he felt. He really was looking forward to the promised curry from Miwa. He was so distracted, that in the middle of his way back home, he remembered about his Shrine duties. Groaning loudly, he toyed with the idea of just skipping it, really, really not wanting to add the waste of his afternoon sweeping the leaves and dusting off the altar of the rarely visited shrine to the list of a very shitty day as it was. 

“It’s not for the visitors, Tobio, it’s for the Kami that keeps watch over us.” He mimicked in a higher pitch and mocking tone the voice of his sister as he remembered why Miwa was so devoted to her own duties. “Well, if you still believed in that crap then you should be the one keeping it clean.” He groaned and kicked a rock on the road as he made his way begrudgingly to the shrine. 

As soon as the shrine came into view, the uneasiness he had been feeling during the day evaporated. He could deny it all he wanted, but there was something relaxing about taking care of their little shrine. He may have hated the idea of just  _ this _ being his responsibility or his whole future; but everytime he would change into his red and white robes and step into the small area marked by that familiar wooden fence, something would connect with his inner self. He would feel time flowing slower, the foliage would look greener and he would feel grounded, as if a missing piece of himself would finally set into his soul, completing him.

He loved it. 

He hated it. 

The idea that this basic purpose in his life was maybe everything he was ever meant to be was his biggest fear. The idea of being stuck forever in this little shrine, in this mediocre city, it made him feel trapped. Suffocated. He wanted to experience more. He wanted to feel that his life had some meaning besides cleaning the cobblestone path of his family’s temple. There  _ had _ to be a reason for him living right now. This couldn’t be everything there was for him to have survived that horrible and tragic night all those years ago. No matter how calm and fulfilled and complete he felt right now.

The sound of soft music came to his ears, snapping him from going down the spiraling thoughts he was not ready to reminiscence about. He turned his head to the source of the noise. Furrowed eyebrows echoed his thoughts. There were visitors in the temple? Wait. Was there someone playing music here? It appeared to be a string instrument, it wasn’t quite a guitar, more like a higher pitch sound being played in an off-key kind of way.

Filled with the similar uneasiness feelings from before, he held onto the broom in his hands tightly. Was it a student wanting to practice in a remote location? He surely hoped so, the tune definitely needed practice and honestly, what was the worst it could be? He was almost an adult, there was nothing to be afraid of. If it seemed like a dangerous or crazy person, maybe he could ask him nicely to leave? He could use the broom as a weapon, if whoever the person was became rowdy. There was nothing to fear, really, he repeated trying to convince himself.

The string instrument gave one last loud grating note before stopping its noise completely, the silence that came after made Kageyama even more anxious. He stepped towards where he thought the music had come from, only for a crashing sound coming from the honden at his right to make him jump out of his skin. He fell to the ground as he tripped with his wooden sandals, cursing out loud as a second banging sound made its way to his ears. Someone was not only invading the place, but actually trying to destroy it. He got up quickly, almost tripping on his long pants. He managed to grab the broom before dashing towards the wooden structure. 

He stopped himself a couple of meters from the now evident shadow inside the house-like building. The honden wasn’t big, but it wasn’t the smallest he had seen either. It could fit up to four people standing before the Kami’s altar and its shintai; the glass bead laying cozily on top of a small purple velvety cushion. The wooden construction built around it was meant to protect and house the jewel from the weather, but the hole now created by whoever was staring at the bead in front of them was making sure that the structure was rendered pointless. 

“Hey!” Kageyama meant to say with much more threat and conviction than the trembling weak shout that escaped his lips. “What do you think you are doing!?” 

The shadow in front of him turned to look at Kageyama. 

Kageyama froze at the sight. 

He wasn’t able to recognize the features, much less to  _ understand _ the other person’s features.  _ It  _ seemed humanoid in shape, but his skin was a rather unhealthy greenish tone of flesh, it was bald, with long claws and hair all over his limbs. Kageyama noticed this because the  _ creature  _ was barely wearing anything to cover himself up. Furthermore, the only piece of clothing besides what seemed like a long sleeved green and red bolero, was a square parchment of paper with a simple katakana marking.

The creature shrieked at the sight of Kageyama, making the other step back in fear and horror at the sound of the beast’s howl. The being crouched itself to gain momentum, ready to pounce at the frozen spectator. It jumped forwards as it screeched savagely at Kageyama, but right in that second, a blurred mass crashed against the back of the green creature, squashing it to the ground as whatever had hit the beast with a dissonant musical sound, bounced and skidded on the cobblestone, ending its momentum against the trembling feet of Kageyama. Tobio managed to notice between two gasped heartbeats what had crashed against the green beast’s back and made its way to his wooden sandals, was now a broken shamisen covered in what he feared was the beast’s dark blood. 

Kageyama fell on his ass, fear bending his knees and making him unable to hold his posture at the scenery before him. He managed to get a hold of himself just in time for the sound of footsteps to echo in the wooden almost destroyed structure. With his heart in his throat, barely able to grasp the newcomer’s features, he recognized with wide horrified eyes the face. The figure. The fiery hair that had been haunting him every night. 

Just a couple of meters in front of him, covered in crimson bloodied markings, dressed in white robes stained in equally red and contrasting stripes, dragging what he could only assume was a second, equally beaten up creature, was the boy of his dreams. Though, if Kageyama were being completely honest right now, the imagery was nothing far from a nightmare.

The boy stopped in his tracks, finally noticing Kageyama. His brown eyes locked on the frightened, widely open blue ones. Time came to a standstill between them two. Both paralyzed at the mere sight of the other, waiting in agonizing silence for the other to acknowledge the other’s presence. 

The boy stretched out his hand and opened his mouth as to speak, but Kageyama was not having any of it. As if the gesture had brought back his sanity and self preservation skills, Kageyama scrambled up to his feet and dashed towards the exit. No blessing from any Kami was worth that interaction. No scolding from Miwa was as scary as what Kageyama had just witnessed. 

Kageyama just ran as fast as his feet let him, sandals flying off his feet as he made it out of the boy’s sight, out of the shrine’s wooden fence and out of the nightmare he had just witnessed. He didn’t stop until he made it back home, slammed the door shut and hid under the covers of his bed, waiting for the night to come and sleep to soothe his ravaging heart.

If this was how he was going to meet the boy with the fiery hair, Kageyama really hoped that any further interactions with him would just remain in the realm of his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on social media!  
> Twitter: @Eguko_fics


	2. Breakfast at Sakanoshita

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I’m so sorry for all the time I’ve taken to update this fic. I was too excited to post the idea I had, but then, I realized I hadn’t all the plot laid out and was afraid to get things too jumbled up before I could fix them, so I took some time to write a few chapters and get the feeling of how I wanted to proceed with the pacing and the story. I hope you come to like what's brewing on the horizon.
> 
> By the way, the word count for all chapters will be as random as I feel the need hahaha! Hope you don’t mind.
> 
> I decided to include a little glossary at the end notes. If you want more words to be added, please tell me in the comments :)

Kageyama remained under the covers of his bed, flinching at the faintest movement or noise coming from outside his bedroom door. The noise of the apartment’s door closing after someone evidently came in, made him whimper out loud. Kageyama held his breath, too conscious of the noise his rabbiting heart made against his chest. He kept on clutching his duvet tighter, as if the simple piece of fabric was enough to protect himself from whoever the intruder was.

“Tobio?”

The worried voice of Miwa came to his ears as a much needed tranquilizer. He immediately teared up at the recognition of his sister’s voice as he deflated on his bed, tension escaping from him as if liquid tendrils poured out from his rubbery limbs. 

“Tobio?” His sister repeated as she knocked timidly on his door. “Are you in your room? Why is the broom from the shrine in the doorway?” Miwa’s voice sounded confused and in need of an explanation. “Everything all right?” She pressed on, changing her voice for a tone of concern.

Tobio sprinted out of his bed and unlocked the door to reveal a very surprised Miwa. She opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, but her baby brother just cut her attempt by hugging her tightly. 

Ok. _Now she was worried_ . Tobio was not someone to show this display of emotions; not even the death of grandpa Kazuyo had made the young teen to have this kind of reaction. Tobio had been unconsolable, yes, she knew that much, but he had never _shown_ it. Especially not in front of Miwa.

Furthermore, the last time Miwa recalled seeing his little brother shaking and in such a state of emotional wreck, had been around the time their parents died.The little 3 year old boy had barely spoken at all before, and after the incident, he had become even more confused and scared. Miwa remembered vividly how she, no older than 10 at the time, would spend the nights cradling the boy back to sleep as both of them wept for the loss of their family. Their little ritual would continue until their grandpa, after hearing their whimpers, would come over to their little human pile and help them find solace. For the too serious, six feet tall unfriendly teen to have regressed to that vulnerable state, something had to be _seriously_ wrong.

Her big sister’s instincts took hold of her, grabbing her brother by the shoulders and forcing him to look her in the eyes. “Tobio, what’s wrong? What happened?” She asked slowly, with the perfect mix of worry and authority.

Kageyama was about to spill out his experience in lively detail, when the sudden mental image of the frightening monsters replayed in his mind making him pause. The idea of Miwa worrying over their family’s shrine and wanting to go and investigate the topic further, would only end up putting her in danger. It would also be admitting what a coward he had been for just _leaving_ the frightening scenario in such a rush. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t even retrieve the shintai from the honden. Kami or no kami; the jewel was a family heirloom. Realizing now that he had left it back there, probably to be stolen without as much as a resistance, was starting to hurt him in his stupid manly pride.

No. It was a no brainer. He couldn’t let Miwa know. He had to fix this mess before the girl came to figure it out. 

“Oh! Miwa!” Kageyama half chuckled in that stupid way he tended to do when he was nervous, showing how hard he was trying to downplay the situation. “I’m sorry, I was in such a hurry that I didn’t see you!” He quickly added, almost stumbling over his words. 

Miwa just arched an eyebrow at Kageyama’s awfully executed attempt at dodging her. Really, it was amusing to watch her little brother act as if she didn’t know him. 

“I just came in to grab something real quick! So I _really_ should be heading back right now.” Kageyama laughed nervously, staring anywhere other than at his sister. He could feel the disbelief radiating off of her, adding up to his jittery state.

“All right..?” Miwa replied slowly with a questioning expression and tone of voice. She gave him a once over, noting the extremely out of character smiles and chuckles coming from her brother. “Are you sure you are okay? You don’t look okay, Tobio.” Miwa pressed as she leaned onto the doorsill to let her brother pass, carefully following his movements with worried eyes. 

“Yup!” He chuckled nervously. “Never been better!” He said as he made his way to the entrance and grabbed the discarded broom from the floor. “I’ll go return this now.” Kageyama held on to his laughter before glancing shortly at the kitchen, doing a double take on the kitchen knife block before becoming very still. The sudden idea of taking a weapon with him made its way to his brain. The only problem was how would he be able to explain to his sister the need for it without lifting any more suspicions. 

Kageyama swallowed as he tried to come up with something. There was no way he was not taking something to defend himself with. Even if he wasn’t completely sure of what had happened back in the shrine; he couldn’t deny the fact that the buildings had been attacked and just a broom wouldn’t be enough to hold back the monsters that had done it. If Kageyama was doing this to protect his sister and his family’s legacy, well, he should be fully committed and prepared to do so.

Miwa was growing more suspicious by the minute. The fact that her brother had not even had the time nor care to change into his school uniform when rushing home, the evident missing sandals in his attire, the anxious, flinching movements that kept Tobio from keeping still. Not to mention the weird intensity in the way Tobio was _glaring_ at the kitchen knives, making Miwa worried that something definitely bad had happened. Maybe something even dangerous. She really wanted to help her little brother, even if said brother was set on keeping her out of it.

“Tobio.” She called as she made her way towards him. “Why don’t you help me make dinner instead?” She grabbed the broom from his hands and lowered it, a soft smile trying to mask her worried expression. “I’ll take this back tomorrow when I go there, it’s already dark for you to be outside anyways.” 

“No!” Kageyama yelled a little too loud as he yanked the broom back. “I’ll do it.” He clutched the broom tightly, keeping it close to his body and away from Miwa’s grasp. “I left my school uniform there, so I need to go grab it anyway.” He knew how hard he was failing at this whole _trying to play it cool_ thing.

Miwa narrowed her eyes at him before exhaling in defeat. “Suit yourself.” She shrugged, letting the topic go. “But do it tomorrow, I don’t want you out in the streets at night. Now go change and help me cut the vegetables for dinner”. She scolded him as she made her way to the kitchen.

Kageyama watched his sister move towards the kitchen, taking off the apron from the little hook at the side of the fridge. With swift and practiced movements, she started taking things from the pantry and moving utensils near the cutting board. It was such a contrast to the images and thoughts of the scary events repeating in his head. As he made his way to his bedroom to change, the idea that those creatures may appear when it was Miwa’s turn to be alone in the shrine was making him anxious. 

Tobio couldn’t let something like that happen. _He had to protect her_. Miwa had done so much for him already. Ever since it became just the two of them, it had been Miwa, the one taking care of their income, their house and making sure that both of them would have everything they needed. It was Tobio’s moment to take care of his family. He would make sure of it. 

In new clothes and with new determination, Kageyama made his way to the kitchen, grabbed the carrots and the peeler as his brain started to work on full time. What he needed was a plan, a way to keep his sister out of danger until he made sure that whatever attacked him and destroyed the honden was not lurking around anymore. He would wake up tomorrow earlier than his usual time. He would go to check the shrine and assess the damage, maybe it would be smart to involve the police as well. But in all honesty, what Kageyama needed the most for the time being, for his own sanity and peace of mind, was to make sure, completely sure, that at least what he had seen had been real; the rest would depend on the answers he could find within the remnants of the destroyed building.

\-----

Saying that he couldn’t sleep that night would be an understatement. The positive aspect of his lack of sleep though, was that the orange haired boy didn’t come to torture him in his dreams. The bare minimum sleep that Kageyama got in the hours his eyelids remained closed didn’t allow him to. 

Before the alarm even rang, Tobio had already put on a hoodie and jeans, shoving yesterday’s robes in a duffle bag before making his way to the door. He stopped in his tracks remembering the idea of taking a knife with him. The thought of walking out the door with a weapon in his possession made him really apprehensive. He wanted to believe that the chances of the monsters still being there were slim, but it would be stupid of him not to leave with at least _something_ to protect himself in case they were. Kageyama grabbed one of the big knives, tilted it to see the edges and nodded as he confirmed it was still sharp. He rolled it into a kitchen rag and put it in the bag among his clothes, instantly firing up his paranoiac brain. What would happen if people found out he had a weapon in his belongings? Kageyama shook off the idea quickly, reminding himself of the importance of his mission. With more conviction than before, he stepped outside his house, closing the door quietly before making his way towards the shrine.

  
  


“It’s okay, you got this.” He cheered himself on, as a new wave of dread crept on his spine. Kageyama had to remind himself that he was doing this for Miwa, for his family and for himself. He was brave and in control. He had made a plan after all; it wasn’t like he was going into this blind. All Kageyama had to do was to check if the shintai was still in the shrine, nothing more. 

After careful consideration the night before, Kageyama had decided not to involve himself more than he should. He would tell Miwa that he had come back to pick up his clothes, when he noticed the destroyed building. Kageyama would look for the glass bead from the honden and take it back home safely, notifying the police of the break in and keeping his sister from even coming to the shrine unguarded. And in the case that they had taken the jewel, all Kageyama had to do was tell the authorities for them to start looking for the people responsible for the break in. They would take care of this mess, he and his sister wouldn’t have to be involved at all and they would get back their family’s heirloom. The perfect plan. _The safest plan_.

So now, after reminding himself about said plan, all Tobio had to do, was to muster the courage to peek into the building’s direction and actually confirm that the shrine was as broken as he remembered. Just one look and get it over with it. Just one tinsy, tiny look.

Kageyama was crouching outside the shrine’s entrance. At the corner between the stone wall and the three step ladder that welcomed the visitors to the small shrine, just below one of the two dragon statues that protected the medium size wooden torii gate. 

He took in a deep breath, reaching for his opened bag as he closed his eyes, preparing himself mentally to run towards the honden.

“What are you doing?” 

Kageyama cursed as he jumped out of his skin at the voice of his sister at his side.

“Mi-Miwa?!” He cried out loud clutching his chest as he tried to remember how to breathe again.

“I knew you were up to something. Spill it. What did you get yourself into?” She accused, crossing her arms, knowing that there had to be _something_ for her brother to be acting as suspicious as he was behaving.

“I- I. What do you mean?” Tobio stammered as he panicked.

Miwa clicked her tongue out loud. “Come on Tobio, I don’t have all day. I have a client coming for a bridal makeup trial in a couple of minutes.” She said exasperated as Tobio just mumbled incoherently trying to find excuses for his behaviour. When the boy didn’t come up with an answer, she started tapping her shoes in irritation. “Ugh! Fine! I’ll figure it out myself then!” The girl let out harshly as she turned and made her way up the stairs and into the shrine’s grounds.

Tobio panicked. He trampled on his feet as the bag at his side made him lose his balance in his frenzy at stopping Miwa from advancing. “Wait! It’s not safe!” He cried out in warning.

“What are you talking about?” Miwa groaned as she kept on walking. “Did you break something? It’s that why you were so jumpy yesterday?” 

Miwa let out a little yelp as her brother grabbed her wrist a little too forcefully in a final desperate attempt to stop her. “Tobio!” She chided as she snatched her wrist back, massaging it. “What the hell was that for?!” 

Kageyama barely reacted at his sister's scolding. He was frozen in place, unable to process what was in front of him. “No way.” the boy mumbled softly as he made his way to the shrine, taking careful strides. “How can this be?” He let out in a whispered voice.

Kageyama was having a hard time grasping what he was seeing. He couldn’t believe it. He _refused_ to believe it. He _knew_ what he had seen, he wasn’t crazy. He was certain that he had been witness to a destroyed honden; to the monstrous creature that had screeched and threatened to attack him. He had seen the boy with the orange hair. He was so sure of what he had seen, he could still _feel_ the fear and the shaking limbs from yesterday. 

So _why?_ Why was it that right now, in the place where he had almost lost his life, there was no broken musical instrument, no monsters and not a single sign about the Kami’s housing even been visited, much less touched.

Kageyama jogged towards the sacred building, furrowing his brows as he touched the solid wood, running his shaky fingertips along the varnished walls. He almost choked on his own surprise when he felt how perfectly and intact the honden was. The fear of not understanding what was going on, the possibility of him having hallucinated everything and the faint thought about him _actually_ going a little crazy, made him freeze as he stared at his own hands. He just stood there, baffled, gaping at the scenery in front of him, not really knowing what to do now that his best case scenario had come to pass. 

“That hurt, you dumbass!” Miwa came to his side and hit him in the back of his head. “Seriously, what’s wrong with you?” She groaned as she took the broom from his brother’s hands without much resistance. 

“I- I…” Kageyama tried as every sentence just drifted out of his brain, unable to come up with a coherent phrase. “There was-” He managed to get hold of his tongue and stopped himself from spilling the nonsense he was about to. There was no point in telling Miwa about his, apparently, hallucinations about the events from yesterday. The shrine was all right. No signs of forced entry, no blood staining the floor, and clearly no monsters to be wary of.

“There was..?” Miwa insisted, trying to help Tobio to finish his thought.

“Nothing. Never mind” Kageyama let out in frustration. He wouldn’t gain anything by worrying Miwa more than she already was. “I thought I saw something. That’s all.” He shot his sister a not very convincing look before continuing. “I should be heading to school now, I’ll return this-” He took the broom from Miwa’s hands back. “-And get on my way.” He turned on his heels and made his way to the small building that held the shrine’s supplies. Still shell shocked about his findings, he drifted off and tuned out the world as he contemplated all the possible reasons for yesterday’s events, completely failing to reciprocate his sister’s goodbyes.

Miwa huffed, annoyed but somehow used to the aloof personality of her brother. No apparent explanation to her brother’s strange behavior either. “Why won’t he just open up to me?” She said tenderly, turning to the direction of the shrine. “I just want to see him happy.” 

  
  


\-----

  
  


Kageyama was so utterly confused. How was it possible for the shrine to be intact? For no monsters to be around? No signs of anything at all? Had he imagined everything? He was so sure about what he had seen. He had heard the music clearly. He had seen the monsters and the blood. He had seen the _boy_.

The jingling of bells over Kageyama’s head announced his stepping inside of the little convenience store on the way to school. He had forgotten to pick something to eat for breakfast and now his stomach was begging to fix that. He grumbled a short unintelligible reply to the greetings from the blond older man at the cashier as he made his way to the dairy section. 

Maybe he should go to the shrine later in the afternoon? Just to make _sure_ that there was really nothing fishy going on. Kageyama couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something missing. Something he was not seeing. The final piece that would reveal that everything had been a joke or something. The desperate confirmation that he hadn’t gone crazy after all. He knew he couldn’t stop Miwa from going today without telling her the truth, but how was he going to convince her that there had been some weird things going on without actual evidence? 

He scowled at the different milk varieties in front of him. Maybe there was no secret and impossible explanation, maybe all he needed was rest.

Sakanoshita store’s bells jingled once more announcing the arrival of a second customer. Kageyama was too deep in his own thoughts to even notice or care.

“Here for breakfast, Hinata?” The greeting of the man was filled with familiarity towards the customer. “The meat buns are fresh out of the steamer.” 

“Gwahh!!” The cheerful voice let out in reply. “Ukai-san! You are the best!”

The footsteps came closer to Kageyama, who finally had picked two milk cartons and a yogurt. He hadn’t brought lunch either, so he would just chug them all in the morning and try to make it till lunch with just this. He hadn’t brought that much money either. Satisfied with his decision, he moved towards the cashier as the incoming footsteps stopped right at his back. Barely a second after Tobio turned, a short, bright orange haired boy gasped loudly at the recognition of Kageyama’s face.

“You!” The boy shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Kageyama. “It’s _you_!!” He repeated excitedly, running closer to Kageyama with his wide brown eyes glittering at the sight of the boy. “I waited forever for you back in Yomigami’s shrine! I thought I wouldn’t see you again!” He yapped loud and happily. 

Kageyama stilled at the vision in front of him.

It was the boy from yesterday, no crimson gore-like features on him that made Kageyama step back in fear or shock. The boy was wearing a plain gray hoodie, some casual jeans and the brightest grin in existence that threatened to simply blind Kageyama. Tobio could not stop himself from comparing the ginger short boy with a very excited puppy.

The silent, confused and shocked scowl on Kageyama’s face may have stayed longer than he thought, as the boy stepped forwards once more, with his own set of furrowed eyebrows on his face as he inspectioned Tobio even closer.

“It _is_ you, right?” He asked with an apprehensive doubtful tone in his voice. “The priest from yesterday?” After another held silence, the boy pressed on, leaning towards Kageyama and lowering his voice, as if whispering a secret. “You _saw_ me yesterday in the shrine, right?”

The way the boy phrased the verb made Kageyama flinch. It was as if the other was implying that he was not supposed to have been a witness of the altercation. The image of the ginger covered in blood markings with the monsters laying on the floor made Kageyama realize that maybe, just maybe, despite the cheerfulness and uplifting personality the kid was showing, he was still _very dangerous_ . Maybe it would be wiser of him to stay the hell out of the over excited boy’s way. After all, Kageyama had obtained what he wanted. An answer to yesterday’s events. Evidence that, in fact, something _had happened_ . He hadn’t gone crazy or hallucinated the whole ordeal. Maybe it wasn’t the answer to _what_ had happened, true, but at this point, did it matter? Why would he want anything more to do with a potential murderous boy? His heart was beating faster just by thinking about it.

“I think you are confusing me with someone else.” Kageyama replied, no intention of letting this interaction go any further. 

The boy tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at Kageyama. The ginger was clearly not believing Tobio at all.

“I’m pretty sure it was you though. I remember your eyes.” It was a statement. A statement that made Kageyama really self conscious.

Kageyama had to remind himself how to function properly again. He pushed the comment about his eyes to the back of his head and shrugged, a little too forcefully to have been natural, as he tried to make his way to the cashier. “You’ve got it wrong.” He let out rudely, not leaving space for amicable replies. “I’ve never seen you before in my life.” He finished as he rounded the boy, leaving him alone in the dairy aisle.

Kageyama placed the items on the counter, glancing discreetly at the boy who was just staring at the ceiling with his hand under his chin in silent deep thoughts. 

“Cash?” The voice from the older man snapped him from his spying, making him jump a little as he fumbled for his wallet in his bag. He took it out and paid the blonde cashier, before attempting a last glance at the strange boy. 

He wasn’t there anymore.

“So you won’t be at Yomigami’s today, then?”

The voice was so close to his ears, that Kageyama spilled all the change to the floor from the jump and the shriek he gave out.

“Oh! Sorry!” The cheerful boy chuckled as he crouched to help Kageyama gather the lost coins. “I didn't mean to scare you!” He grabbed all the change he could and deposited it in Kageyama’s hand. “I saw you glancing at me, so I thought you already knew I was by your side.” He grinned again. 

Kageyama was taken aback for a second time at the sight of the smile and the sound of the shorter’s laughter. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he could handle all that the boy was making him feel. The horrible mix between fear, curiosity and warmth was too much for his stupid brain to even grasp. It was leaving Kageyama in a constant state of wariness, just too exhausting for this early in the morning.

“Hinata! You are taking too long! We’re leaving!” A very annoyed voice from outside the store came to interrupt the stuttering attempt at a reply from Kageyama. 

The boy, Hinata apparently, groaned loudly at the scolding, clearly annoyed at the interruption of their amicable chatter. “You are the worst Tsukki!” He cried back loudly in a whine. The ginger turned to look at the still very shocked Kageyama before smiling. “I’ll be waiting for you in the shrine, then! Don’t be late!” He finished in an excited tone.

Hinata came closer to the counter and grabbed two paper bags that the cashier had placed beforehand. He smelled one and hissed happily at its content. 

“Uwah! They smell amazing! I owe you Ukai-san! Put it in on my tab!” He said before jumping excitedly towards the exit, a meat bun stuffed in his mouth as the bells jingled after he crossed the door. The cashier, Ukai-san, just chuckled at the muffled disappearing cries of happiness from the boy.

  
Kageyama stood there in shock and confusion. A completely different interaction from yesterday, but the exact same result. His heart beating at double the speed after having met the orange haired boy, _Hinata_ , he had to remind himself. The same oppressive feeling that _something_ was about to happen. Kageyama was feeling as if the ginger had thrown a bomb and disappeared, leaving Tobio as the sole victim of the devastation caused by the clashing opposite actions Hinata had shown during whatever _this_ exchange had been. Meanwhile, the same idea from yesterday kept brewing in his mind. Hinata meant trouble. _Big and inescapable trouble_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly had this chapter written ages ago, but since I’ll be returning to grad school in a week or so, I’m not sure how much time I’ll be able to dedicate to writing. So, for now, I’ve been writing but not updating so I can have a little stack of chps and update somehow sporadically. Bear with me until I get things and my head in order. :D
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Find me on social media!  
> Twitter: @Eguko_fics
> 
> Glossary:
> 
> Shintai: Physical objects worshipped at or near Shinto shrines in which spirits or kami reside. They are used in ceremonies by priests to commute with them. Shintais are not themselves part of kami, but rather just temporary “bodies” which make them accessible to human beings for worship. They can be natural (mountains, trees, etc) or man made (mirror, jewels, swords, etc)
> 
> Honden: It's the heart of the shrine; the building that houses the Kami. It’s where the shintai is locked and closed to the general public. 
> 
> Honden vs Shrine: A shrine is where Kami are worshipped. There are small transportable shrines, even. It is considered the whole complex area as well, including the different buildings in it. A shrine may not have a honden, especially if it's a natural worshipping place, like a mountain or a big tree, for example. (This may be confusing, but every time it says shrine, I'm talking about the whole complex, while if the fic says honden, is just the main sanctuary.)
> 
> Torii: Traditional Japanese gates made of stone or wood (typically red), that are found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. 
> 
> Kami: Though the translation for Kami in english is God, it’s not in the sense of western deities, Kami can be good or evil, spirits, humans, nature, etc. For this fic though, the Kami are treated as powerful entities with powers that rule over elements and nature. So there will be a difference between demons, spirits and Kami.


	3. The power of prayers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Infinite thank yous to ghostofcalum for all her help in shaping this chapter!! You are the absolute best!

Kageyama had to be going crazy. There was no other explanation for him to be even thinking about going to the shrine to meet the ginger again. Though, if he was being honest, a little part of him  _ really _ wanted to see the mysterious boy from his dreams again. With the knowledge of the boy’s name and after seeing  _ Hinata _ in plain clothes and no strange makeup, Kageyama thought that the guy didn’t seem so scary anymore. Maybe Tobio had misunderstood the whole thing and the ginger was just playing roughly with some friends in weird costumes and makeup. Yeah! There was really no way that someone so small, bright and excitable as Hinata could be  _ really _ dangerous, was it?

Their brief interaction early in the morning had left Kageyama with this unexplainable feeling of longing for the shorter boy. At first, he had deemed it as wariness of the ginger, like his body was throwing all kind of signals about staying as far away as he could from the other, but as the day continued and the chance of a possible meetup drew near, Kageyama couldn’t feel anything but eagerness about it. He blamed his curiosity, really. There was so much he wanted to know, so much he wanted to understand from the boy and about all the weird things that had been happening to him. What about the dreams he had been having? What happened to the destruction of the shrine? What else would he be able to figure out if he just went and  _ talked _ to Hinata?

When the bell rang to announce the end of the school day, Kageyama had managed to convince himself that he  _ had _ to meet Hinata once more. Not because he wanted to see the boy again, no, of course not, he scoffed at such a ludicrous idea. No. Kageyama had to meet him because it was his responsibility. 

After a whole day of questioning his own sanity and fueled by his lack of sleep from the day before, Kageyama had come to the only possible and logical conclusion. Hinata and his crazy ass group of friends had been using his family’s  _ sacred grounds _ as a meetup place. There, the group disguised themselves in weird costumes and massive amounts of body paint so they could roleplay fights with instruments as weapons. The audacity of some people, really.

Today though, Miwa would be tending the place by herself and now that Kageyama was aware of the situation, he  _ had _ to put a stop to their stupid games before they became a problem for his sister. He planned on protecting her from all these weirdos, and even if their family’s shrine was not the most visited, it didn’t give them the excuse to treat it as a playground of sorts.  _ Thank you very much _ . He huffed annoyed, kicking a pebble angrily on the curb as an outlet for all this unwanted craziness.

As he bordered the final block towards his destination, Kageyama started to feel the same anxiety from his morning visit. In all honesty, he had made this crazy theory of people in costumes just because he wasn’t able to face the idea that something more of the supernatural spectrum may have actually taken place yesterday. Refusing to cave into that territory again, Kageyama forced himself to look carefully at his surroundings, in hopes of catching a glimpse of Hinata before the ginger got to the place. He wanted to stop him from even entering the shrine’s grounds. The thought of the boy there,  _ waiting for him _ , as Hinata had phrased it, gave Tobio goosebumps, and not the good kind. The words had had certain duality to them, making Kageyama glad of having brought the knife with him that morning. He still believed that the short, sunny guy was not a threat, but his instincts still asked him to be on alert, and being prepared for the worst case scenario grounded him greatly.

Yeah, sure. It had the downside of Kageyama clutching his bag like an overprotective wacko during his school hours, thinking that a student would rat him out and put him in a tough spot with Miwa. His not so careful checkings (downright scowling daggers out of his eyes) at whoever attempted to get too close to the bag, gave his classmates an even more harsh impression of what a social weirdo Kageyama really was. He didn’t really mind though; after all, it wasn’t like there were many friends on his list that he could offend in the first place.

Kageyama took a long and heavy breath as he stood in front of the three stone stairway under the torii gate, signalling the entrance to the shrine. He gave a final look around, hoping to see a mop of orange hair coming his way in any given moment. When he noticed no one else in the area, but him and the two dragon statues guarding the base of the stairs, he gathered all his courage before stepping on the small stone stairway. If Hinata wasn’t here, maybe he could talk to his sister and get her to go away before the boy even came? Kageyama sighed defeated as he made his way further into the shrine. He really sucked at lying and if he wanted Miwa to go along with his story, he would have to come up with a really good one.

He heard the sweeping noises from her sister. She was wearing the basic traditional red and white robes that shrine maidens known as miko used when tending the shrines. 

“Tobio?” Miwa called as she heard his approaching footsteps echoing in the stone pavement. “What are you doing here?” 

_ Shit _ . Kageyama thought as he was spotted. There wasn’t time to come up with an excuse. Maybe just coming clean would be the easiest way to get her to comply?  _ Stick to the essentials, no need to make her worry about things you don’t understand _ . He reminded himself. 

“Hey Miwa.” Kageyama greeted as he got closer to her. The scowl on his face was a clear sign of his discomfort. 

“Everything all right?” She straightened herself as she stopped swiping. 

“It’s about yesterday.” He rubbed the sleeve of his school uniform, avoiding the look from his sister. “There’s something I didn’t tell you about, something that happened when I was here.” He glanced over his sister, who looked at him with an arched eyebrow. “I don’t know how to describe it, but I swear I’m telling you the truth.” He had his serious face; a deep worried scowl in his features, pleading with his sister. “You have to believe me.” 

“Ok?” Her voice came out as a reflection of her surprise at Tobio's willingness to talk and the weird phrasing he had chosen to start his story with. Nevertheless, she could feel her own frustration about her brother keeping his distance from her being replaced by the soothing happiness of the young teen seeking her advice and protection. In an attempt to not break little Tobio’s confidence and trust in her, she smiled encouragingly. “I’m listening.” 

Kageyama sighed, he didn’t know where or how to start. How to make his story believable but skimming on the details of monsters and destroyed property? He just hoped that his version of the events was more than enough. He just didn’t want Miwa around the area by the time the weirdos came.

“There was kind of an incident yesterday.” Kageyama pushed on as he clenched his fists by his side. “As I was sweeping the court, I heard some weird music coming from the area of the honden and before I noticed, someone had tried to break in.” 

“A break in?” Miwa gasped as she turned to look at the perfectly untouched structure.

“They didn’t!” He blurted out loudly. “I mean they did! But they also didn’t?” Kageyama blabbered trying to make sense. He groaned loudly as he ran one of his hands on his hair, pushing it back in frustration. Not a minute in and he had already blown this. “I mean. I think I saw- No!” He corrected himself loudly. He had to convince his sister that she was in danger, no second guessing himself now. “I’m  _ sure  _ I saw someone destroying the place, but the weird thing is that today there was nothing broken.” He pouted as he felt a little embarrassed about admitting the last part. “That’s why I wanted to come by myself yesterday. I was embarrassed about fleeing and I wanted to make sure it was safe before you came by yourself today.”

Miwa just looked at his brother dumbfoundedly. 

“Tobio, why didn’t you tell me this yesterday? If somebody tried to break in, you should have told me immediately and called the police.” She didn’t want to scold him, but Miwa was taking this thing seriously. There had been a series of dangerous cases going around the neighborhood and knowing that her little brother may have been a victim, was not something she could shrug off easily. “I’m the adult here, if you had told me, I would have taken care of this.” 

“I was trying to protect you _.” _ Tobio looked at the ground as he felt the redness and the warmth reaching the tip of his ears.

“Protect me?” She let out with a warm chuckle. In all honesty, she wasn’t able to put a finger on whatever Tobio was trying to explain, but the idea of her little brother looking out for her made her soft on the inside. She gave a look around at the different buildings. They seemed fine and she had cleaned inside the honden just minutes before her brother came. Nothing was out of place, but if Tobio was telling her that he had seen someone attempting to steal from the gods, well, she could at least look into it. “Did you see who tried to break in?”

Kageyama looked flustered. He didn’t want to confess this part. He wasn’t dumb, he wouldn’t say that he had seen monsters and lose the little credibility that his sister had given him, but there was a short orange haired boy with dubious intents on his way here already. He needed to make Miwa go away before that happened.

“A boy.” He mumbled barely audibly. Great. Now he sounded like a wimp.

“A what now?” She hadn’t been able to hear him well.

Kageyama’s reply died on his throat as a gust of wind threatened to lift him off the ground. He covered his face with his arms, planting his feet on the solid stone so as to not lose his balance. Leaves, dust and rubble from the ground pushed past Kageyama as Miwa’s loud scream made him snap his head towards her direction, watching her being blasted by the whirlwind towards the building at her back. 

“Miwa!” He cried out as he ran towards her, fighting the upcoming wind currents. 

His sister had hit her head and sides, making evident the difficulty she was having to straighten herself up. Kageyama helped her sit up as he gently placed Miwa’s back against the stone walls that kept the honden elevated. 

“Shit.” Kageyama let out as his sister winced from the pain from her injuries. Miwa clutched her arm as a little stream of blood started to stain her face. “Are you okay?” He asked hurriedly.

She choked on a groan as she tried to nod. “What happened?” She asked with a trembling voice, unable to comprehend what or who had shoved her in that manner. Everything had happened so quickly.

Kageyama looked at the direction the wind had come from, scared of already knowing what may have caused the gust in the first place, and still not prepared for the sight of the creature flapping its wings in the air. The limbs had the shape of paper fans, floral intricate decorations across its leathery skin. The creature was flapping them vigorously as it remained ominously in the sky. 

The monster appeared to be a horrendous hybrid between a woman and a stork. It may have been the size of Miwa, maybe a little shorter. The long, white feathery neck made it difficult to pinpoint exactly how tall the creature was. It was wearing an elaborate silk kimono and from the sleeves of the pink garments, Kageyama noticed how 5 long white feathers moved individually, almost as how human fingers would. The bird’s talons rested upon long wooden geta sandals and a huge straw hat covered the creature's face; the only thing the hat allowed to show was the dark long straight hair cascading at the sides of the monstrosity’s head. At the beast’s side, in the way a weapon would be carried, the creature held a red and purple paper parasol, but its shaft was much more the likes of old swords than the handles of an umbrella. 

“Shit.” Kageyama cursed again, gritting his teeth in anger and terror, scared of moving his sister and worsening her injuries. He held onto the girl’s hand tightly as he felt his own heartbeat at a horrifying fast pace. The one thing he had hoped to avoid, the only person he wanted to protect was now bleeding, hurt and in danger. Kageyama swallowed his fear. He couldn’t escape this time, not if he didn’t want to leave Miwa by herself, injured and in the claws of that monster. The necessity of keeping her safe was making him think about reaching for the knife, while the panic of being in the presence of such a creature had him glued to the floor. Unable to do one or the other, he just kept on holding his sister tightly while glaring intensely towards the monster

“Tobio? What are you looking at?” Miwa’s tight voice was a reflection of her fright. She was trying to follow the other’s gaze, stretching her neck as if she was missing something crucial. “Is something there? Did something explode?” The little nervous chuckle that escaped her lips at the end, gave away the anxiety she was feeling.

Kageyama looked down at his sister in panic. There was nothing stopping her from seeing the beast. Had she gone blind?  _ Oh no. _ Were her injuries that bad? He was about to ask when he noticed that she was following his movements perfectly. Furthermore, she was staring directly at his eyes in worry and fear. 

Then it hit him. 

_ Miwa just couldn’t see the monster. _

The beast cawed loudly as it flapped its wings to ground itself gracefully, making Kageyama snap his head back towards it. The creature tilted its head slowly, as if sizing the siblings in front of it, its hair flowing with its movements from one side to the other. The slow motions of the bird were followed by a single step forward, the wooden shoewear resounding in the unsettling silence of the area. 

The monster took its right feathery hand and unsheathed its weapon from the apparent parasol. It pointed it up before resting its end near the floor. Kageyama swallowed when he saw it. He’d been right. The handle was from a sword, a long and very sharp katana. 

The bird started to walk slowly and ominously towards the siblings, dragging its weapon along the floor, scratching the stone surface with a dread inducing screeching sound. Each step the creature made, pushed Kageyama further into his panic. He managed to block out Miwa’s pleas for an explanation as he tried to pick her up to make a run for it. He finally got her up in his arms the second the beast leaped forwards, its sword perfectly smashing the exact place Kageyama would have been if he hadn’t sprang to his right, making a run towards their closest hideout; the shrine’s honden at their back. 

He heard the beast shriek loudly before a gush of wind hit him directly on his back, having him plummeting on his side as he tried to protect Miwa’s head from hitting the floor. Kageyama turned to check on his sister, who had gone unconscious after the second hit. He really hoped that it had been from the shock. Unable to stand up in his new position, he ended up scooting away from the bird, trying to distance himself from the creature, ignoring the burning sensation at his side from having skidded on the stone with his fall. 

The bird-like monster stopped its advance as it adopted a basic sword stance. With practiced slow movements, it placed a hand on the katana’s handle, savoring the seconds of panic from its prey before leaping one final time. In the moments the beast struck forwards, Kageyama closed his eyes and crouched over his sister, hoping the final blow would hurt as little as possible. 

The clanking sound of metal banging and no incoming pain made him open his eyes to assess the situation. Right in front of him, behind the biggest mirror he had seen in his life, was the orange haired boy. Kageyama connected the previous sound with the now shattered sword bouncing on the ground at his side, and the angered shrieks of the monster as frustrated cries directed at the newcomer. 

“I’m sorry for being late,” the orange haired boy managed as he straightened himself up, recovering from the impact of the blade against the mirror he had used as a shield. He turned to see Kageyama, the same huge grin from their encounter in the morning. “But I’m sure glad I made it on time!”

The weak whimper from Miwa made Kageyama realize he still had her in a tight hold. He released her as the brown eyes of Hinata remained on them instead of the monster he really should be focusing on. Kageyama used this time to analyze the boy’s features. Just like the day before, he was sporting the same crimson markings he had thought as blood stains, only this time, he realized they were actually ink-like defined imprints around his eyes, cheeks and a long one that went from his nose up to his hair, apparently creating a symbol hidden under his orange fringe. The sun was hitting the boy’s side perfectly, making it look as if Hinata was glowing. The ginger looked otherworldly, really; the perfect balance between a creature to be revered and feared.

Hinata remained smiling at him for the same long period of time that Kageyama just stared back with his blank expression, gaping in raw fear and admiration. 

“Gwaaah!!” The loud gasp from the ginger made Kageyama recoil from the suddenness of the gesture. “See?! I knew you could see me!” Hinata cheered excited. “I’ll be gloating over this to Tsukki for the whole week!” He shouted out triumphantly the last part more to himself than to Kageyama. The beast squawked menacingly again, as it readied itself for a second attempt at getting rid of the siblings, prompting Hinata to remember that he was actually in the middle of a fight. “Right! Wait for me now! Don’t go running away like yesterday!” He gestured excitedly at Kageyama with one hand opened, his five digits widely spread as he lifted the mirror with the other hand with such ease, that Kageyama doubted that it was even a real mirror at all. Could it be a prop? He was still deciding whether or not to believe his eyes at the straightforward monster’s theory. He  _ really _ wanted the more convoluted and rather improbable version of the friends in costumes one to be true instead.

Before Kageyama could say anything, though, Hinata had already launched himself against the creature. The mirror reduced itself in size as he swung it against the bird monster. The creature deflected the hit with its parasol, another loud clunking noise at the continuous bashing of both weapons. They locked themselves in a flurry of parries and strikes, until the monster leaped into the air with Hinata following suit. The boy jumped and attacked the underbelly of the monster with the side of the mirror, landing with ease at the same time the beast plunged to its side with a squawking cry. Not giving the bird the chance to recover, as soon as Hinata landed, he whirled on his feet, gaining momentum and throwing the mirror forcefully at it, hitting and piercing the monster squarely on the back. The creature jolted straight in pain, giving a loud cry in anguish before it fell lifelessly to its side. 

Hinata huffed out, stepped out of his disc throwing stance and relaxed his shoulders. Then, as if he had not just  _ killed _ whatever the monster was, he skipped happily towards the limp body of the beast to retrieve his mirror, smiling at Kageyama as he took it out of the monster, little drops of blood still falling to the floor from it. 

Kageyama snapped. The boy, not dangerous?  _ As if! _ The ginger had just slayed a creature taller than himself armed with a bloody katana with just  _ a mirror _ ? _ What the hell had  _ that _ been all about? _ Kageyama was not taking chances, he still had to protect his sister. Hinata was probably a monster disguised as a human waiting for the perfect opportunity for its next meal. 

He fumbled for his bag, still perched miraculously at his side. With a swift movement, he found the kitchen knife and with shaky hands, he held it tightly showing its sharp end towards the orange haired creature. “Stay the hell away from us, you, you monster!” Kageyama warned with a shaky voice, as Hinata gave one step closer to them. “Don’t you dare move an inch closer!”

Hinata flinched and turned to look over his shoulder, looking everywhere behind his back to find out who Kageyama was giving warnings to.

“I’m talking to  _ you _ , idiot!” Kageyama yelled as he pointed the knife towards Hinata. On second thought, maybe calling a powerful, magical mirror wielder monster an “idiot” was not the best idea he had come up with. Well, it was a close second to the idea of threatening Hinata with his knife. 

To his surprise, Hinata turned over, blinking dumbfoundedly as he pointed to himself looking at Kageyama as if the other had suddenly grown a second head. “Me!?” The ginger squawked offended. 

Kageyama nodded as he narrowed his eyes, trying to pick Miwa up with one hand, so he could lift her up as soon as the boy resumed his advance. “Who else is here?”

Hinata stared at him gaping like a fish out of the water. “But-” He sputtered. “I just saved you!” He cried out in exasperation using both of his hands to point towards the direction of the monster. “Twice if we are counting yesterday! The normal reaction would be a “thank you very much”!” He scoffed.

“You just killed someone!” 

“Killed?!” The other gasped loudly. “What are you-”. Hinata shook his head quickly as he gestured to the bird with one finger. “That’s a demon! An Ubume!” He cried out loud in bewilderment. “If I had left you alone for a second longer, both of you would have been skewered meat by now!” He huffed as he crossed his arms offended.

At the exact moment Hinata finished speaking, the body of the bird-like creature exploded in a flourish of petals, leaving nothing that could help Kageyama keep up with his charade of the creature being anything but a supernatural whatever phenomenon the other boy said it to be. Fine. _ A demon _ . If one wanted to be technical. 

“That’s-that’s impossible.” Kageyama stuttered the only words his astonished, fearful brain was able to reply as the last petals fell to the floor, scattered by the soft breeze blowing gently around them.

“Impossible?” Hinata huffed out in disbelief. “I thought you were supposed to know about these things already, priest. We are in Yomigami’s Shrine, after all. One of the main 13 Kami?” He used his hand to gesture all around as he looked at the place. He stared back at Kageyama and at the still shocked expression of him, realization fell upon the ginger. He relaxed his stance as he took a hand to his mouth. “Oh.” Hinata let out softly, extending the vowel as he put the pieces together. “You aren't a priest.”

Kageyama flinched in recoil as the boy started his advance towards them once again. Hinata’s hands were now raised in a defensive gesture. 

“I won’t hurt you, okay? So you can lower the knife before you hurt yourself.” Hinata smiled softly. “I’m here to protect you from demons like the ones that attacked this place.” He talked slowly, trying not to make the situation more complicated than it should. He made his way to Kageyama’s side in a few strides, and even if Tobio couldn’t deny that he was scared, there was something in the voice, the movements, the gesture of the orange haired boy that made him believe that he was telling the truth. 

Hinata crouched next to him as he stared at Miwa. A worried semblance crossed the boy’s face as he inspected her. “She needs a healer. I’m afraid that even if we are inside a gate, the damage is still physical for any humans within.” The boy mumbled as he turned to look around the area.

“Gate? What gate?” Kageyama pressed for answers, trying to understand what the other boy was saying.

Hinata stared at him confused, he tilted his head to the side, one eyebrow arched in doubt. “You don’t know about gates either? Then how come you are inside one?”

“Why should I know?! You are the one with the weird outfit and spurting out nonsense.” Kageyama answered, feeling the need to be offended. “I just came to talk to my sister and that friggin bird attacked us!”

“Oh.” Hinata replied as his face showed the mental process he was going under. “You can trigger them?” Kageyama’s scowl grew deeper, so the ginger shook his head again, as if physically throwing away his thoughts. “Never mind that! Let’s focus on her injuries first.” He glanced at the honden as an idea came to his mind. “I know a way to heal her, but I can’t do it by myself.” He pointed to the structure housing the Kami of the shrine. “Bring me Yomigami’s bead.” 

“The what?” Kageyama asked as he was helped by Hinata to place Miwa delicately on the floor.

“The shintai or whatever you humans call a Kami’s divine instrument.” Hinata motioned more emphatically towards the sacred structure. 

Kageyama stood up, running towards the honden and stopped before opening it. What was he doing following the other boy’s instructions? What on earth could this psycho want with the jewel? A religious artifact such as the shintai was not supposed to be taken out of their altars. They were believed to be the temporal bodies of the spirits residing in them. 

A more pressing thought came to his mind. Had the boy just said  _ you humans _ ?

“What is taking you so long?” Hinata shouted from Miwa’s side. “The old grump won’t mind!” He added. “It’s not like he has any intention of intervening anyways.” Kageyama managed to barely hear the last mumbled annoyed comment that followed the louder previous shouts. 

Kageyama decided to ignore the craziness coming from Hinata, especially after Miwa’s condition seemed to have worsened, her breathing becoming too even for Kageyama’s liking. He had already been witness to the craziest and improbable things today, why should he doubt the words of the even crazier stranger?

He opened the doors of the honden; the heart of the shrine, staring face to face at the jewel inside it. A faint bluish glittering light came to be reflected on the pearl. It made Kageyama anxious for some reason. For all the times he had carefully cleaned the area, he had never touched the bead before. The little nagging fear at the back of his head that gods and spirits were actually real made him nervous about disrespecting the Kami in some unforgivable way. 

“I’m sorry, but I really need your help.” Kageyama muttered, bowing his head. 

He stretched out his hand and grabbed the crystal sphere. There was a tingling itchiness in his palm when he held it close, making him feel a pulling sensation from within his body. The hairs from the back of his head prickled as a fire snaked down his spine. He wasn’t sure if he could deny anymore that  _ something  _ was definitely inside the blue marble.

He ran back towards Miwa’s side, kneeling on the ground as his heart insisted on beating as wildly as it pleased, sending adrenaline and ricocheting Kageyama’s anxiety with each new breath. “Ok, here it is.” He breathed out, showing the treasure to Hinata. “What now.”

Hinata’s eyes sparkled at the treasure. He looked up to Kageyama’s face with surprise, before his eyes turned into expectant pools of curiosity. Kageyama wasn’t sure what was what had Hinata so enthralled, but he was looking at the raven haired man with as much intensity as a child looking at a new and precious toy. 

“Use it.” Hinata replied a little too excited for the situation at hand. 

“What?!” Kageyama threw back in shock. “How?!”

“Pray to it!” Hinata chirped thrilled. “Yomigami is the Kami of rejuvenation. It can return things to its original state.” 

“What?” Kageyama looked at the jewel in his hands and then to Hinata. “I can’t do that! You do it!” He shoved the bead towards the shorter one.

“Waah!” Hinata squawked as he pushed the bead back to Kageyama. “I-I can’t! Kami can’t use other Kami powers!” He laughed nervously.

Kageyama blinked at him in hesitancy. Uneasiness overtaking his body at the fear of the answer of what he  _ really _ wanted, but didn’t dare to ask. “What do you mean by that?” 

Hinata tilted his head confused, he wasn’t expecting that follow up apparently. “I can only use the powers from my Divine Instrument.” Hinata pointed a thumb to his back, signalling the mirror perfectly perched on it. “But you humans can channel the Kami powers by praying directly to their shintais!” He replied with bright enthusiasm. 

“You-” Kageyama almost let the bead fall from his hands at the unfazed revelation from the other boy. “Are you a -”

Miwa groaned as she stirred a little in her unconsciousness, making Kageyama forget everything about his questions and doubts. He shouldn’t have done this. He shouldn’t be listening to this lunatic. He should have called an ambulance as soon as the danger had been over. Why was he set on doing things more difficult to him? Why was he still even listening to the other’s crazy talk?! Why was Kageyama even thinking about following it? 

“Augh!” Kageyama groaned loudly, pressing the jewel tightly between his hands. Was he supposed to pray out loud? When he was little he remembered seeing his grandpa dancing as he tried to connect to the Kami within the bead. Maybe he should dance?

“You are overthinking it! Just ask Yomigami to heal her.” Hinata gave his eager and encouraging reply. He sounded even more anxious and excited than Kageyama, like if he really wanted the inexperienced teen to try this idea more than anything.

“Shut up!” Kageyama barked back at the pressure. “I’m trying, okay?” 

Kageyama shut his eyes one more time, focusing on the stone between his hands. He felt the same tingling sensation from before, this time emanating from the jewel itself. He was tempted to open his eyes, to see if something was happening at how  _ real _ the slithering energy from the bead felt.  _ “Please, heal her. Let me heal her.”  _ He pleaded in his mind as more of the same energy flowed up his arms, snaked its way to his chest and back and finished prickling the tip of his toes. He felt the need to shiver as the feeling of tiny needles stabbed his muscles, as if something was trying to sip into the inner parts of his body. 

“Wha-” Hinata let out a soft gasp that almost distracted Kageyama from the now burning sensation on his skin. He was starting to fear that maybe this wasn’t normal after all. He opened one eye in fear as he saw the faint golden light pouring from himself and onto Miwa’s form. He breathed in relief as his sister’s own blood started to peel off her skin in a gray like smoke, her breathing became less laborious and she was starting to stir back to consciousness.

“It’s working!” Kageyama gasped in astonishment. “It’s really working!” He turned to look at Hinata who was looking at him with wide eyes and stupefaction written all over his face. “What?” Kageyama flinched in horror. “Did I do it wrong? Is Miwa going to be okay?!” He whipped his face towards the girl who already seemed much better than before. 

Hinata yanked Kageyama’s wrist towards him, not leaving the other enough time to prepare, yelping at the action and almost dropping the jewel. “What are you doing?!” Kageyama cried back, losing his concentration and breaking the flow of golden light surrounding Miwa. 

Hinata rolled the other’s uniform sleeves in a swift upward motion. He twisted and turned Kageyama’s arm looking for something. “Huh.” He let out in something akin to disappointment. “Maybe a side effect?” He mumbled to himself as he got his face too close to Kageyama’s arm. The other boy could feel Hinata’s breath on his skin as the other kept on blabbering to himself.

Feeling too self conscious of the clear lack of personal space from the other boy, Kageyama retrieved his arm with enough force for Hinata to lose the grip of it. “Oh!” The ginger said as he realized what he had been doing. “I’m sorry! It’s just that I’ve never seen someone actually using the Kami’s instrument like that.” 

“Like what?” Kageyama’s scowl deepened as he shielded his arm with his other hand. He had his upper body turned away from the boy, in fear that Hinata would try to touch him again without his consent. He was curious, but also, very, very wary of the little menace.

“Tobio?” Miwa was opening her eyes with some difficulty. “What- What happened?” She asked as she tried to sit up. Kageyama was quick in helping her. “Why are we on the floor?” She didn’t let the other reply to the first question, before barreling him with the rest of her doubts. She looked at Hinata’s direction and arched an eyebrow. “And who is this? Your friend?” 

“I’m Hinata Shouyo, miko-san!” Hinata chirped happily, referring to her by the clothes she was wearing. “Nice to meet you! I’m really glad that you are okay!”

Miwa stared at the boy and then to her brother, a pleading look for answers in her face. Kageyama sighed as he tried to come up with the words, when the chuckle of Hinata interrupted him.

“That was a really hard fall! You should be more careful with your attire.” Hinata grinned sweetly.

“What are you-” Kageyama began but Miwa’s eyes and features softened all too quickly before replying.

“Oh I’m so embarrassed.” She said hiding her face with the sleeve of her white robes. “In all my years of attending the shrine, I’ve never tripped over my sandals before.” 

Kageyama looked in stupefaction at Miwa and then at Hinata, a thousand questions boiling in his insides. Hinata winked at him as he helped Miwa stand up.  _ What was that wink supposed to even mean?  _ What was Hinata doing to his sister? Kageyama looked at the ginger with horror in his eyes, fearing that the ginger had some kind of mind manipulating powers. He believed himself to be a god… could he  _ actually _ have powers like those?

“There you go!” Hinata chuckled again, interrupting Kageyama’s spiraling thoughts. “You’ll have to thank Tobio here for helping you out! He was really worried about you.” 

Kageyama was trying really hard not to freak out right now. Was Miwa under some kind of spell? Did she really not remember having been hit by the weirdest gust of wind ever? Wasn’t she freaking out about the weird markings and clothes of the boy? She was polite, but she wasn’t even looking at him funny! What had Hinata  _ done _ to her? 

“Tobio, is that true?” Miwa smiled fondly at him, genuinely touched by her brother’s gesture. Kageyama felt a little embarrassed and guilty about keeping the truth from her like this. But wasn’t it better for her not to be traumatized by something impossible to explain in the first place?

The taller teen swallowed his doubts and fears for the time being and shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. “I guess.” He really needed to interrogate Hinata. 

“Well, I’m about to finish the patio. Why don’t you wait for me and I can treat you both to some ice cream?” She asked sweetly. 

“Gwah!! You’re so nice miko-san!” Hinata bowed his head before apologizing. “But I’m afraid I can’t stay for long.” He stared at Kageyama and smiled at him. “And Tobio offered to help me before, so I hope you don’t mind if I take him for a little while?” 

“Oh not at all!” Miwa replied with a genuine and candid laugh. “I’ll see you at home then, Tobio.” She grabbed her brother’s shoulder before he could slip away, getting closer to him as she whispered in that warning big sis tone of her. “Why didn’t you tell me you had such a nice and close friend? You should invite him over sometime!” She suggested as the very evident scowling on Kageyama deepened even worse. He didn’t like Miwa’s insinuation about his lack of abilities in the friend making department. 

“He’s not nice.” He mumbled back before following the boy who was bowing again, all ready to leave their proximity. “And he is  _ definitely _ not my friend.” Kageyama narrowed his eyes as he matched the quick pacing of the little monster. He deserved some answers and he was not letting the ginger go without them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of want to update weekly, but as the plot progresses, I'm not so sure I'll be able to do so. At least I have decided on how to follow the story and introduce the coming characters, so yay! 
> 
> Things are starting to develop! Hope you like what it’s to come!
> 
> I’ll be also adding a bestiary (from the game) as the chapters progresses. In case you want to look up for the images of the demons in game :D They are weeeeird.
> 
> \---  
> Glossary:  
> Miko: Name for shrine maidens. Their attire consists of a white kosode (kind of a kimono) with a red hakama (red pleated pants) for the bottom.
> 
> Divine instrument: In the game, is the name for the weapons Amaterasu uses. In this fic, the term is also applied to the weapons Kami use, also alluding to the idea that shintais and Divine instruments are the same, as Kami can channel their powers through them.
> 
> Ubume: A bird possessed by the soul of a woman slain by a samurai's blade. It has no trouble deflecting and countering sword attacks with its umbrella. In traditional mythology though, it says that they are the melancholic souls of mothers who died at childbirth.


	4. The Zodiac

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I probably should have divided this chapter into two to be honest, but since I'm updating just once a week, I thought it would be prudent to give you a longer one instead. :D
> 
> A lot of world building in this chapter guys! I'm trying my best to explain the weird mix that I have decided to settle for this crossover, so bare with me XD
> 
> Find me in twitter!  
> @Eguko_fics

Hinata didn’t stop walking until they made it to the wooden torii gate at the entrance of the shrine. Kageyama had to jog the last part to catch up with the surprisingly quick man. 

“What the  _ hell _ was all that?!” Kageyama demanded as he grabbed the other’s head, stopping his advance as he squeezed it tightly. “Did you brainwash my sister?” It was the only explanation for Miwa to have fallen for the clear blatant lies that Hinata had spilled out. There was no way she would have reacted so calm and collected after what she and Tobio had gone through.

Hinata swatted the other’s hand, squawking loudly. “Stop it!” He looked back at Kageyama to appease the nervousness of the other. “Don’t worry. It was just a little divine intervention. That’s all. One of the perks of being a Kami, you know. We can influence the minds of mortals just a tiny bit.” He winked mischievously.

Kageyama wasn’t having it. Furthermore, he seemed to be even more horrified about the words coming from the ginger, so Hinata huffed loudly as he rolled his eyes towards the taller boy. “She’ll be fine!” He elongated the last word as he waved his hand in the air in dismissal. “You are such a worrywart, really! It would have been a lot more of a hassle to explain everything to her. Believe me, you don’t want to be at the receiving end of an existential crisis.” Hinata chuckled humorously, clearly missing the reason of Kageyama’s mortified expression. “Now come on! I need to introduce you to some people.” Hinata chirped happily.

Kageyama gritted his teeth in frustration. He was not moving an inch until he got the answers he was looking for. All this time, all these  _ months _ , Kageyama had been waiting for this moment. For the chance to meet up with the ginger boy, for all the mysteries surrounding him to be solved. He expected that once he had found Hinata, everything else would  _ make sense _ ; his dreams, the ginger’s unspoken words, the inexplicable feelings of longing and familiarity he experienced everytime he woke up. He thought that by finally meeting Hinata, Kageyama would have been able to line up to fit all the missing puzzle pieces.

But instead, the enigmas had only tripled and all the pent up frustration about it was starting to rise and bubble up from his stomach.

“No.” Kageyama replied harshly. “I’m tired of not understanding. I’m tired of you not telling me anything.” He stomped his feet loudly on the stone floor. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on.”

Hinata turned to look at him, clearly taken aback by the opposition to his request. At the narrowing of the ginger’s eyes, Kageyama had an instant moment of regret remembering that he was refusing the commands of a  _ very _ powerful being, before holding his ground decidedly; he was not going to be swayed by the shorter man anymore. 

“Fine.” Hinata sighed defeated. “But you’ll have to come with me. I’ll answer your questions as we go.” 

It was the first time that Kageyama felt like he could breathe normally again. All the tension building up since yesterday rolled over his body to the point of even softening his furrowed brows. He was going to get his answers. “Ok, I’ll return the shintai before leaving, then.” He turned to walk back to the shrine’s honden when Hinata jumped to snatch the taller boy’s wrist, jerking Kageyama to a halt.

“Wait!” Hinata cried out. “Don’t! I want to show Suga what you can do with it first!” For Hinata to be so much smaller than him, he certainly had a really strong hold. Even when Kageyama flinched from the surprise attack and shook his hands to be let go, he couldn’t escape the smaller hands locked grip. It was as if Hinata was a tightly heavy padlock and with every second Kageyama resisted, the tightening from his grip increased. “I’ll answer everything you ask! Just bear with me a little, I promise nothing will happen to Yomigami’s bead.” 

“But-”

“Please!” Hinata’s voice came in a desperate plea. A complete contrast with the sprightly character he had shown so far. Kageyama couldn’t help but be even more curious about why this was so important to Hinata. He hated how easily he was starting to give into Hinata’s demands even though he had just promised himself not to. First the meetup in the shrine, followed by using the bead with Miwa, now taking the shintai out of the premises of the shrine? Kageyama had to be crazy, or possessed, or maybe he had also been influenced by the mental power thingy that Hinata had bewitched Miwa with. 

Then again, hadn’t he been always begging for a life outside the shrine? For something different in his boring, routine life? The feeling of adventure that came with the idea of following Hinata was as scary as it was thrilling.

“Ok.” Kageyama huffed. “Let’s go then.” 

“Gwah!” Hinata let out excitedly, returning to his more outgoing personality. “Thank you! Thank you!” He had his glittering puppy eyes on, the ones from their first encounter… the ones that made Kageyama so uncomfortable for reasons he was not able to put into words.

Unable to handle the brightness of Hinata, Kageyama shoved a hand onto the other’s face, forcing him to stop his praise. “Augh! Stop that!” Hinata whined playfully as he struggled to take off Kageyama’s hands from his face. He ended stepping backwards from the recoil of the action and onto the small stone ladder, forcing Kageyama to follow him through the torii gate. 

The moment the ginger crossed the threshold though, Kageyama watched in awe as the crimson markings on Hinata’s face faded away, the mirror that had been perched on the Kami’s back vanished into nothingness and his peculiar red and white clothing reverted to what Kageyama remembered seeing Hinata wearing in the morning.

Kageyama stopped in place, consequently forcing Hinata to a halt. Without missing a beat, the ginger freed his face, looking at him with annoyance, tugging at the other’s hand for Kageyama to keep on moving.

“How did you do that?” Kageyama demanded, not giving into Hinata’s pulling.

“Do what?” Hinata had a confused expression in his face.

“The clothes. The makeup!” Kageyama gestured at him with his free hand. “Is it a magic thing? Like with the bead?” 

Hinata seemed to finally understand what the other was referring to. With his free hand, he pointed a finger to the torii gate before replying. “We crossed the gate.” The shorter boy lowered his hand as he started going down the stairs, pulling Kageyama to follow closely, who remained in silence waiting for something more as an explanation. “You know how torii gates are used to show the entrance to certain places deemed as sacred, right?” Kageyama nodded, following the idea. “Well, they are  _ sacred _ for a reason. Those are locations where the walls between the mortal and the spiritual realm are the thinnest.” 

“The spiritual realm?” The other parroted.

“Yeah!” Hinata replied happily. “It’s the place where all demons, spirits and Kami originate from. Normally, humans can’t see the spirits that roam the earth. To them, they appear just as positive or negative emotions, but in places where large amounts of spiritual energy concentrates, like shrines or temples for example, spirits can materialize into their true forms and interact with the mortal realm.”

“Wait. You mean to say that there are more of those monsters out here?” Kageyama looked around nervously. 

“Don’t worry about it!” Hinata chuckled as they continued to make their way through the streets. “The most they can do outside a gate is make have a mild bad time, or a hurting back. Maybe a bad cold is the most they can do, really.” Hinata hummed as he shrugged. “Like when you have a string of bad luck? That’s probably just an imp making fun of you.” 

Hinata stopped and looked back at Kageyama, a sudden idea coming to his head if the teasing, smiling expression of the ginger was any indication.

“Don’t tell me you are scared Tobio?” Hinata said with a sweet mocking voice. “Weren’t you brandishing that knife before? I thought you were oh so very brave -agh!”

He received a smacking on the head as a reply from a very flustered Kageyama. “Don’t you mock me!” He roared as he tried to hide the embarrassment from his face. “And don’t call me that. My name’s Kageyama, don’t get too familiar with me.” Kageyama stomped away as the shorter boy just giggled behind him, enjoying the reaction he got from the human. 

Kageyama took a moment to think about all the things Hinata had been saying. Gods, demons, monsters, spirits. They were all real. The boy walking next to him was an actual Kami.  _ A god. _ Kageyama had inferred this already, but the actual confirmation coming from the ginger of  _ being one _ , made him both anxious and excited. He had never been a really pitius man, even when his family looked over a shrine and his grandfather tried his best to teach little Tobio the significance of prayers, ceremonies and the greatness and importance of the Kami they served and revered in the temple. 

Kageyama gave the smaller man a once over. He knew Hinata was a god, but right now, sporting his gray hoodie and torn jeans, the boy barely resembled one.  _ Such a contrast to the divine creature that saved him and Miwa just moments before.  _ He thought.

“Wait a second. You said that within these places you can see demons, right? Then why couldn’t my sister see them?” 

“Well, it’s true that these places gather a lot of spiritual energy, but even so, humans with no spiritual prowess still can’t see them.” Hinata replied as he crossed his hands behind his head. “For them we are just regular people, while demons just manifest as the elements they control. That’s why your sister couldn’t see me nor the demon, but still got hurt when the demon attacked her.”

Well, that made sense. So far he had the answers for the monsters and the reason why Miwa was unable to see them but that still didn’t explain how the shrine had appeared intact this morning. “What about yesterday then?” Kageyama pressed. “What happened to the destroyed honden?”

“What destroyed honden?” Hinata asked, remembering yesterday's events. Gasping after a second had passed, he snapped his fingers loudly. “Right! I forgot you don’t know how gates work. My bad.” He chuckled at the glare coming from Kageyama. He took his hand to his chin as he tried to come up with a proper explanation. “I think it’s better if you think about what’s inside a gate as a different place than the one you know.” Kageyama tilted his head to the side, not understanding. “How do I explain this?” Hinata mused. “Let’s take Yomigami’s shrine as an example. When you enter the shrine grounds through a torii gate, what you are entering is the spirit’s domain; in this case, Yomigami’s domain.” 

“Ok?” Kageyama was at least following the logic behind. “But the shrine was the same.” 

“That’s probably because Yomigami is a very boring Kami that loves having everything neatly and perfectly controlled.” Hinata mocked. “That stick in the mud is the ruler of that particular space, so he can choose how its surroundings will be shown to whoever crosses it. Honestly, for being one of the main Kami that fight off demons, he is really a piece of work.” He gave out a long sigh. “Maybe if he were to awaken, the place would change a little, who knows.” 

“You mean to tell me that there are more like you? More...” Kageyama wasn’t able to speak the words. He felt a little bit embarrassed about saying them to the person itself. “You know… More people fighting those creatures?”

Hinata gave him a curious amused look. Kageyama could sense the teasing before it even came.

“You can call me a Kami, you know. It’s not something  _ that _ special as people tend to make it.” Hinata smiled widely. “There are thousands of us. The main 13 are just part of the small group that has kept on coming to the mortal realm. It’s kind of our job really.” He puffed off his chest proudly.

“You are not doing a great job if there are still so many of them around, now are you?” Kageyama smugly replied, making Hinata to yelp offended. 

“Oi!  _ Rude _ !” Hinata punched Kageyama’s arm with a pout in his face. “It’s not as easy as it looks, Kageyama!” He whined. “Demons are born and tied to the negative emotions from humans. We Kami gain our powers from the prayers and praise from people. Now consider the fact that nowadays less and less people believe in us, and even fewer take the time to praise us! How do you expect us to get hold of every single demon that comes here if even us, the main 13 are having issues to hold onto our powers outside the gates!” Hinata scoffed loudly. “Seriously, what an ungrateful brat.” 

“I’m sorry I didn’t know.” Kageyama mumbled, clearly unaware of the struggles the little god was going through.

Hinata clicked his tongue in annoyance. “To make matters worse, demons are only growing in strength and numbers while less and less Kami can give us a hand in battle.” Despite his previous agitated and conceited demeanor, Hinata’s eyes were now soft and sad, avoiding Kageyama’s eyes, as if he was troubled and uncomfortable about the matter. “Nowadays just leaving the gates in our forms is tiresome, for lesser Kami though, is just impossible. We can barely make do with the help of the humans that keep us from disappearing.” He gave out a sad chuckle that struck Kageyama directly. “It’s become so hard to keep on fighting just by ourselves.” 

Kageyama didn’t know how to console the ginger. He wanted to tell him that he wanted to help,  _ do something _ . He would work in the shrine with more effort or whatever. He was going to pray with more care than before. He was going to help. Tobio opened his mouth to speak, but had to close it at the sudden huge grin sprouting on Hinata’s face, effectively muting Kageyama with the quick change in his mood. 

“But you could help us!” He let out in excitement. “Kageyama! The way you used the pearl? I had never seen anybody using it like that! You can actually call upon the powers of a Kami! By yourself! Do you understand how cool that is?!” He came closer to Kageyama, too close to Tobio’s liking, shaking his arms in the air enthusiastically as he vibrated with his words. “I was barely expecting that you would be able stop the bleeding or something, but you  _ actually _ returned that girl’s body back to how it was!” 

Kageyama turned his face away quickly. The earnestness of the smaller teen kept on hitting him weirdly and making him uncomfortable. He wasn’t a people’s person and the over enthusiastic ginger was certainly much more of what he was used to handle.

“Gwaah!” Hinata gasped loudly, making Kageyama jolt in place. “Not to mention that you unknowingly triggered the opening of a gate! By yourself! And you aren’t even a priest! Imagine how much you could  _ do _ if you were to train with Suga! Not just healing! You could actually call forth all of Yomigami’s powers!” Hinata was almost hyperventilating, shaking his limbs enthusiastically as his eyes kept on shining at Kageyama. “I heard that he used to shift terrains and do so much cool stuff! Well, I’m not sure what all of his powers are, to be honest, but who cares! If the legends are true you could even turn rogue spirits back to their original forms. Or allow the lesser Kami to return to theirs! Or-!” Hinata was starting to spiral into his thoughts. The excitement was a double edge sword in the boy, clearly affecting his ability to focus.

“So this bead.” Kageyama decided to reel in Hinata before he kept on flattering him for things he wasn’t sure he would be able to do in the first place. He took out the blue crystal marble with certain apprehension before continuing. “Is it true that it's a Kami’s body then?” The sudden realization that he had been holding a  _ god _ in his pocket started to freak him out a bit.

“It is and it isn’t.” The other replied before continuing with his walk. “We call it a divine instrument, but it basically holds the power of the Kami residing in it. You see, when a Kami’s mortal body dies, its essence can be called back with its shintai.” Hinata pointed with his head in the direction of the bead in Kageyama’s hand. “What you have in your hand is the physical object from where it can connect with its powers and its previous lives. But it's not the physical  _ body _ of the Kami. It’s more like a medium with which it can come in contact with the mortal realm.” Hinata grabbed Kageyama’s right wrist and brought it close to his face, leaving him eye level to the Kami’s bead. “The problem with this old fart is that he refuses to reincarnate and I really need his help.” 

Kageyama looked at the bead intently, still not fully aware of what he was holding. He understood that it was an important and sacred object that needed to be treated as such, but the real connotations of what it meant to hold the essence of the god entrapped in it, flew over his head. He decided to put it back carefully in his pocket instead. 

There was still so much he wanted to ask the ginger. His whole belief system had been blown away by so many revelations and new truths about things he didn’t even know existed. The idea of getting himself involved in such a world was exhilarating and at the same time made Kageyama so anxious and frightened. There was something about knowing about this new reality and laws of the world he lived in that made him feel compelled to dive in deeper. 

“He refuses to reincarnate?” Kageyama asked.

“That’s right.” The question had made the shorter boy droop, his over brightness appeared to be dulled a little. “To tell you the truth, we fear that he may have lost his ability to do so. It’s going to be 20 years since the first of us came back and there are no records of Kami being reincarnated with more than just a couple of years in between.” Hinata came to stop at the front of a huge, regal looking wooden dual door. The silence he was holding gave Kageyama a feeling of foreboding. “If that turns out to be true and the time has come when even  _ us _ are losing our abilities to come back,” Hinata paused lingering on his last word, giving himself some time to push the ideas through. “There may come a time where the world will be devoid of those who can protect it.” 

Kageyama looked at the gate blocking the humongous property, following the silent declaration from the ginger. The door was really traditional looking; wooden dark doors with stone and clay fences with blue colored tiling on top, guarding the perimeter of the estate. It may have stretched several blocks for all he knew. He had never been to this part of the city, but he already knew to whose family it belonged; The Ushijimas. They were the only family with such history and fame in the prefecture capable of owning such a huge and well maintained territory.

“What are we doing here?” Kageyama asked. 

“Hinata!” A cheerful voice came from their vicinity, making them look at the source. “Here you are!”

A petite girl with short blond hair was rushing towards them. Kageyama noticed she was wearing the uniform of his school, but as he sucked at putting names and faces together, he wasn’t even able to come up with one single interaction he may have had with the girl. So when she stopped in front of him with the same confused expression that he was showing, he assumed that they may have, in fact, not have come to cross paths before.

“Yachi.” Hinata greeted back happily. “Sorry! I got sidetracked a bit.” He chuckled, making the blond return her attention to him. “This is Kageyama Tobio. Kageyama, this is my friend Yachi Hitoka.”

Both of them bowed slightly, greeting each other.

“So this is why you left us in such a rush?” Yachi asked with a voice that denoted both her curiosity and her annoyance. “Tsukki is furious, you know.” 

“When has he not been angry at me, really?” Hinata groaned as he shrugged. “It’s like his hobby or something.” 

Both of them chuckled, while Kageyama just stared at them without knowing how to proceed. Apparently he made his discomfort somewhat evident, as the next thing Hinata did was to check up on him and smiled invitingly.

“Want to come in?” 

“Here?” Kageyama asked in shock, his voice a pitch higher from the surprise. Hinata couldn't be possibly suggesting getting inside the Ushijima estate, was he? It was a privilege among the elite of the elite to step in such a reserved and historical property.

“Where else?” Hinata mocked as he tapped the wooden doors twice.

The gate creaked loudly before opening wide with a slow sweeping motion. Kageyama couldn’t help but notice how no one was at the other side. He looked at Hinata for answers, but the boy simply kept on grinning. Kageyama just assumed this was the normal procedure and started to follow the two friends who were already crossing through the opened doors.

“Impressive, right?” Hinata asked Kageyama, who couldn’t help but look everywhere at the many different houses and establishments inside the gated community. There had to be at least 50 houses around, and not the small kind. The main manor seemed to be at the end of the main road, where Hinata was apparently leading them. “This is the headquarters of the Tao troopers. The elite members of the inner circle of the Kami.” Hinata said as they started to walk towards the huge house. “They keep tabs on the different gate activities and help us to get rid of demons and spirits who have gone rogue.”

“Not to sound rude, Hinata.” Yachi interrupted Hinata’s personal tour. She shook her hands in front of her when Hinata turned to look at her with a questioning glance. “I’m not doubting you or anything like that! But, are you  _ sure _ you should be… you know.” She lowered her voice for the last part, directing it directly at the ginger. “Talking about this with a  _ stranger _ ?” 

“Yachi!” Hinata laughed. “Kageyama is no stranger! Right Yama-Yama?” He teased with one of his big grins. 

“Who are you calling Yama-Yama?” Kageyama growled back, hitting the ginger in the back of his head, prompting Yachi to squeal in horror at the action.

“What do you think you are doing?!” She shrieked. “Hinata! Are you okay?” She held her hands in the air, trying to see if the ginger had been hit too hard. “Do you know who he is?” Yachi turned to threaten Kageyama, a new experience in the tall boy’s life, seeing a small squealing girl shout and shoved her finger in front of him with a fiery gaze. “You should show more respect! How dare you hit-”

“I’m fine Yachi! I won’t break!” Hinata calmed her down with motions and a tone of voice expected from someone who had been doing it for a long time. “And I’m telling Kageyama all this because I brought him here to meet Suga. I want to show him what Kageyama can do with old Yomi’s bead. He may even be able to help us now that the stupid dragon is absent.” Hinata smiled widely, making Kageyama feel a little taken aback by the expectatives the ginger had from him. Maybe he shouldn’t have come after all. 

“Seriously?” Yachi asked, impressed. “You can use a Kami’s divine instrument?” 

“I- I think?” Kageyama tried.

“Yes! No channeling! No ritual! He just closed his eyes and woosh! All his sister’s injuries were gone!” Hinata boasted in Kageyama’s place. “I’ve never seen even Suga do that.” 

“I’m so jealous!” Yachi changed her stance and demeanor. The fierce girl was now looking at him with curious, wide eyes. Expectantly at Kageyama’s reactions and movements. “I wish I could use a shintai like that! I wouldn’t feel so useless all the time.” She moaned softly.

“Don’t say that!” Hinata was quick to rebut. “Without your help we would have been in serious trouble in a ton of battles!” 

“Oh no! You praise me too much Hinata. I’m just the support; you guys do most of the job anyways.” She replied modestly as a tiny flush of pink tinted her cheeks.

Support? Was Yachi like a secretary or something? The one to do the errands for the gods? Kageyama looked at the blond girl. She was so frail and small. There was no way that she would be  _ actually _ fighting demons along gods like Hinata, right? Unless...

“Are you a Kami?” Kageyama ventured in the straightforward way of his. He was thinking that this was the only explanation for Yachi to be able to help these guys fight the creatures he had been too terrified to even gaze at. 

“Me?!” Yachi asked back, flustered at the suggestion. “Oh no! I’m a mere priestess in training. Just one step above a miko, if anything.” She rubbed the back of her head as she chuckled nervously in embarrassment. “My family has served the Ushijimas for generations, I’m just one of the many priestesses under the care of the Troopers. I’m lucky enough to be able to help the zodiac as it is.”

“The zodiac?” Kageyama asked, confused. 

“Yeah! The main 13 Kami.” Yachi answered proudly. “It's how we are taught to call them.”

“Why zodiac?” 

“Because our first incarnations were the ones to bring the myth of the asian zodiac.” Hinata came to reply nonchalantly instead. “When the first Kami came into existence for their first time, it was a time way before humans did. Naturally, they chose simple forms to mingle and communicate with nature and protect it.” 

“Then, when people appeared, they started relating the animals with the power of these gods. Soon they built shrines and prayed to them for favors.” Yachi continued narrating, remembering her own classes about the matter. “The Kami, in turn, got immense power from their prayers and chose to dedicate themselves to protect the ones who were kind enough to praise them. When the time came that an entire civilization wanted to be associated with the gods they revered, dedicating whole years to them, the Kami chose the 13 most powerful ones to represent them, that way they would be able to protect those that had given them so much in return.”

“That is the only reason we still hold any power and relevance after all this time, really.” Hinata huffed amused. “If it weren’t for those who still celebrate and believe in the zodiac and its influence, I don’t think we would have enough power to reincarnate at all.”

  
  


“Isn’t the zodiac like 12 animals though?” Kageyama had been counting the animals in his head, missing the extra one every time.

“Don’t you ever say that out loud in here!” Hinata jolted in alarm. “If Kenma hears you, he’ll use that as an excuse for getting himself out of his missions. We can barely rope him in as it is!” Hinata whined as Yachi giggled at his side.

Ignoring the comment about people he didn’t know, Kageyama focused on his next inquiry. “Why reincarnate as a human then? Why not keep the myth going and refrain yourself from losing power?” Kageyama asked, confused.

“Faith is something fickle, Kageyama.” Hinata shrugged with a melancholic tone. “People don’t doubt that the sun will rise, but they wouldn’t associate it with the presence or the abilities of a dog. Besides, we chose to be human so we could blend with the people that we protect.” Hinata gave a look at Kageyama. “If people were to see a tiger roaming the streets, I’m pretty sure the normal reaction would be freaking out and hunting it down.” Hinata chuckled as he came to a stop in front of the doors of a big two story manor. “People fear what they can’t explain, Kageyama. They don’t praise it.” 

Kageyama became silent. He knew Hinata was right. He had just seen a “human” with immense power, risking head and limbs, fighting to protect him from a monster and Kageyama’s first thought was that the ginger had to be one too. No wonder the Kami were losing believers and powers.

In an attempt to lift the mood a bit, Kageyama looked at Hinata with a crooked grin. “So you are the rat or something?” Kageyama asked, amused, finding that this was the perfect opportunity to tease the boy back a little. When Hinata looked at him confused, the smirk in Tobio’s face deepened. “You know, for how tiny you are.”

Yachi muffled a gasp, at the same time Hinata bursted in anger. 

“Who are you calling short!?” He barked. “And not that it matters, but I’m the dog, ok? So I’ll be more careful about who you are prodding if you don’t want to get bitten.” Hinata sulked as he pouted facing away from the taller boy. 

_ The dog? _ Well, now that the ginger mentioned it, Tobio could see the resemblance. The puppy eyes and over excited features of the ginger. Not to mention the attention span over things that sparked his interest. It was almost as if he could see the soft ears and wagging tail of the smaller boy when he remembered how Hinata had been yapping over Kageyama's abilities.

Hinata opened the doors of the manor with a loud groan and let himself in while Yachi and Kageyama followed suit. He took off his shoes at the house genkan and signalled Kageyama to do the same. 

“I’m home!” Hinata greeted the apparent empty house as he made his way to the living room area. By the time they were crossing into it, a silver haired man with a mole under his eye came to greet them from the walkway at the other side of the spacious room.

“Hinata, welcome home.” The soft voice of the man accompanied his perfect sweet smile. “Oh? You brought guests with you?” He asked, noticing now Kageyama bowing his head in greetings.

“I’m sorry for the intrusion.” The taller boy said.

“Suga! This is Kageyama Tobio!” Hinata announced with too much joy in his voice. “He is the guy I saw at the shrine yesterday! He’s like super cool!” 

Suga chuckled at Hinata’s phrasing and Kageyama’s evident embarrassment. With an evident curiosity, he closed the space between them with the same softness and delicacy Kageyama expected from the older boy. “Nice to meet you Kageyama.” He said stretching his hand towards their guest. “I’m Sugawara Koushi, the head priest and legal guardian of these rowdy bunch of savages.” He laughed, ruffling the hair of Hinata, resulting in an offended whine from the ginger. “I really hope Hinata didn’t put you through too much. He gets excited easily”

Kageyama blushed at the comment. For some reason the silver haired man made him feel small, he was older than Tobio, but it was something else from his posture and aura that just screamed in warning that the man was one with authority. He thought that maybe this was what it felt like to meet your friend’s parents. He shook his head as he grabbed the other man’s hand.

Sugawara hummed in surprise at the touch, making Kageyama think that he had done something wrong. Maybe he had grasped it too roughly? Were his hands too dry? He was about to apologize, but the words of Suga were faster.

“You have a lot of spiritual power coming from you.” Suga said, visibly impressed. “I can’t believe we haven’t sought you out before!” He was smiling. “You said you met at Yomigami’s shrine, Hinata?” Suga asked, trying hard to put pieces of a mental puzzle together. “Wait. Your family name is Kageyama?” Sugawara narrowed his eyes at Kageyama as if pondering. “Are you maybe related to Kageyama Kazuyo, perhaps? He used to be the priest of the shrine if I remember correctly.” 

“Yes sir. Kageyama Tobio. Kageyama Kazuyo was my grandfather.” Tobio let out proudly.

“And he kept you without proper training?” Suga asked, offended on behalf of Kageyama. “He never reported to us about your talents at all either.” 

“I-I never showed interest in following in his footsteps.” Kageyama replied a bit flustered, trying to come up with the reasons why his grandfather may have been at fault. The need to protect and defend the late man’s name was ingrained in Tobio’s mind.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Suga shook his hand in front of Kageyama. “It wasn’t my intention to badmouth him! At all! I was just surprised that he didn’t. That’s all.” He bowed his head in respect. “He was a very honorable and capable man. I’m sure he would have trained you spectacularly.” The man smiled fondly. “It was such a shock to hear about his passing. Kazuyo was one of our best gatekeepers.”

Kageyama wasn't sure how or what to answer. There were so many new things he was learning. Not only about the world, but from his own family. To think that all the times his grandfather taught him about gods and spirits, it had been real. It had been his  _ job _ to help the gods eliminate real monsters. He hadn’t been a simple priest. His grandfather had been so much more.

Suga took the longing stare of Kageyama as a request to continue. A clear new interest about the young man’s grandfather’s apparent secret life. “I’m sure you have a thousand questions about old Kazuyo. It would be a pleasure to talk about him with you, maybe you could even train with us if you want to hone your powers?” It was an invitation that made Kageyama’s chest tight. It was an entryway to the world of the unknown and the divine, a way to reconnect with his grandfather and maybe even continue his ways. He wanted to know more. So much more.

“There’s a lot there, we could surely use someone as talented as you.” Suga chuckled warmly, making Kageyama smile at the idea. It had been a long time since he had felt so proud about something about himself. It made him feel excited and warm. Maybe being a priest was his calling after all. Maybe a life in the shrine wasn’t the horrible dull idea he had had in his mind all these years.

“He can even use Yomigami’s bead Suga!” Hinata bursted in, completely destroying the soft moment Kageyama was having. “I’m sure that with proper training, he would be able to use the whole range of its powers!” He continued.

Suga’s shoulders tensed at Hinata’s excitement. He could feel where the ginger was going with his speech even before the other even attempted to continue. Sugawara had been taking care of Hinata for far too long to not understand the tunnel vision the ginger had, and if he had roped in a probably unsuspecting Kageyama in his dangerous shenanigans, it was better to snip the issue at the root.

“Imagine Suga! If what we know about Yomi’s powers are true and Kageyama manages to use them fully, he may be able to even turn spirits back to normal!”

“Hinata.” Suga’s voice came harsh, but he was quick to go back to his sweet tones. “Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? I’m sure that Kageyama can achieve a lot by training here, but you must understand that it would be impossible for a human to master-”

“No Suga! I’m telling you!” Hinata’s voice became a little strained as he interrupted the older boy. Kageyama could feel that there was something else being discussed as an undertone that he wasn’t fully aware of. “Kageyama is really talented! I’m sure of it! I saw it with my own -”

“Hinata. I  _ know _ what you are thinking about and I’m pretty sure that we already talked about this.” Sugawara was unable to keep his voice from showing the clear frustration coming from underneath his composed tone. Kageyama could feel how hard the silver haired man was trying to keep up with his soft and agreeable demeanor for his sake.

“No.  _ You _ talked about it. _ I  _ never agreed to anything.” Hinata seethed back. His eyes were hard and devoid of any sparkle Kageyama had grown used to by now. Raw indignation was seeping from every fiber on his body.

Kageyama had never thought that the ginger would be able to show this amount of anger with just his posture. It made him feel uncomfortable, Tobio was clearly in the middle of an argument that he was not supposed to be involved in nor did he understand the underlying cause of the sudden fight, but he was feeling the need to appease it somehow.

“Um.” Kageyama mumbled softly, half regretting already his attempt at subduing the situation when both pairs of eyes locked on him. “I could always give it a try?” He shrugged. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to use all of the bead’s powers, though.”

“Kageyama!” Hinata recovered his excitement gasping loudly. “Thank you! See Suga? He wants to help! Now it’s only you the one who is against-”

“Hinata!” Suga’s voice came ice cold and devoid of any sign of friendliness. Even Kageyama flinched at the warning tone of the man. “I’m not the villain in this situation, so don’t turn me into one!” He growled. “It’s not a thing of whether Kageyama can or can’t do it. We would be so very grateful to have some of Yomigami’s powers back with us. But you can’t fool me about the reason  _ why _ you are so set on doing this in the first place. You know damn well why we are against this idea of yours. With or without the dragon’s abilities, the decision was clear from the beginning!” Hinata recoiled at Suga’s intensity, forcing the ginger to take a step back. “And now you want to endanger a child who can barely understand what’s going on? Did you even tell him what you expect him to do?” 

“I was going to  _ after _ showing you what he was capable of.” Hinata’s voice was a mumble, strained and almost exposing how he was about to cry out from his frustration.

“So no.” Suga cut the ginger with his tongue. “You brought him in blindly, expecting that he would solve your mess by leaving him unable to refuse your request in the first place.” He wasn’t questioning him, Sugawara was dead on cutting Hinata with everything the ginger didn’t want to hear.

“I know he has what it takes! Kageyama even healed a human by himself! I didn’t do anything to help-”

“What do you mean?” Suga asked dry and slowly. The warning undertone in his voice became even harsher, so much so that made Hinata doubt about how to continue. 

“It’s not like that! It was nothing serious, Suga. I had it under control.” Hinata looked at the ground, avoiding the intense glare of the silver haired man. “I would have jumped in to heal her the moment there were signs of trouble. I promise. I just needed to confirm that Kageyama could use the bead first.” 

“What?” This time, the voice came from Kageyama. He sounded shocked, confused and hurt, making Hinata flinch and shrink in the spot. 

Hinata looked at Kageyama who had a betrayed expression on his face. The ginger was left speechless, unable to explain what he was trying to do or what his intentions had been in the moment. He would have never let anything happen to the girl, he just needed to confirm his suspicions, and that had been the ideal moment to do so. Maybe he hadn’t been completely honest with the shocked teen, but Kageyama surely would understand that all this was for the greater good. 

“I- I had this hunch that you could use-” Hinata let out in thin words, clearly being caught in something he shouldn’t have.

“A hunch?!” Kageyama snapped. “So me, panicking and worrying sick over healing my sister, my  _ injured, unconscious only family _ , after having been attacked by a freaking monster and being scared shitless. All that was part of an experiment to you?” Kageyama’s voice was harsh and cold. “So what, so you could confirm your  _ hunch _ ?”

“Hinata.” Yachi whispered in disappointment as she acknowledged the weight of Kageyama's words.

“No- no! Of course not! I-I would have used the bead if you hadn’t been able to. Your sister wouldn’t-” Hinata stammered.

“You told me you  _ couldn’t _ use the bead.” Kageyama growled. “You said that it was only  _ me _ who could do anything at that moment. You let me think that there was no time to do anything else. Was that a lie as well?” 

Kageyama was fuming. His panic, his anxiousness, his struggles at not being able to help his barely breathing sister. Had all of these been just a test to the gods? A way to pass their time? He was furious. Angry at Hinata, angry at himself, angry at the idea that he had been seriously thinking about helping the ginger just moments before. He felt somewhat betrayed to be honest. It felt as if all the meaningful and deep conversation he had had with Hinata about the selfless acts of these Kami, fighting for humanity and protecting the world, had been just a scam, a way to gain his trust and pity. 

“Kageyama, I can explain!” Hinata pleaded. “It’s not that! I can’t use it as you can! I would have been able to barely stop the bleeding! I swear!” Hinata fretted as Kageyama became more and more restless. “I’d never-”

“I don’t think I want to hear anymore.” Kageyama said as he clenched his fists. “If this is the way you gods treat those who serve you, I don’t think I want to partake in any of this.” He bowed his head as he turned to leave.

Hinata stood there frozen, seeing his only chance at undoing his past mistakes leaving through the door. Yachi gave him a knowing look and bowed her head as well.

“I’ll go talk to him.” She said, turning on her heels to catch up with Kageyama.

Suga paused, giving Hinata a pitying look. He didn’t want to see the little Kami continue suffering in this guilt locked state of mind. It was time for Hinata to move on, to understand that sometimes, things were out of his control and it was okay to accept that. Suga was convinced that if Hinata kept on this path, he was bound to make more mistakes like the one he had just made with Kageyama. Falling prey of his parental feelings for the younger boy, Suga came closer to Hinata, no more scowling or anger seeping from his body.

“I don’t doubt your intentions were good Hinata, but that was not the way to do things.” Suga’s voice came the softest it had been, trying to appease the emotions of the ginger. “You should apologize to Kageyama too.” 

Hinata was looking at the floor, not saying anything back. Suga knew it was a low blow, but maybe right now, warning the Kami about the dangers of his ways could save them all a bigger headache later.

Suga placed a hand tenderly on the ginger’s shoulder. “Shouyo. I know you feel responsible about what happened to Atsumu, but this idea of yours is reckless and dangerous. With or without Yomigami’s powers.” Suga crouched, leveling himself to the ginger who appeared to be on the verge of tears. “I’m truly sorry, but the fact that you found someone who can use the dragon’s powers does not change the fact that it’s too late to even do anything about it.”

Sugawara gave a heavy sigh, the need to make the other understand that he was doing it for Hinata’s own good, was too much of a weight Suga wasn’t able to shake off. “You have to let it go Shouyo.” He finished with a final coo. One last attempt at breaking in the ginger’s hard and determined spirit. “You have to let him go.”

Hinata flinched as he clenched his fists tightly. He didn’t want to listen to this. He knew he had a chance to undo his mistakes. A way to help those he had wronged before. It was because of him that things were like they were. He hadn’t seen the signs, he hadn’t protected those who mattered. He had fooled himself into thinking his actions didn’t have consequences. He had to make it right. It was his responsibility.

Suga squished tenderly Hinata’s shoulder, but the ginger shoved it away as anger filled tears started to pour from his eyes. “No! It’s you who don’t get it.” He pushed Sugawara out of the way as he dashed into the inner parts of the manor, leaving Suga alone in the room.

The priest straightened himself up as he followed the ginger’s run with disheartened eyes. “I know you are a nice kid Sho, but you are too stubborn for your own good.” Suga released his frustrations with a long sigh. “Why can’t you understand that not everybody seeks to be saved.”

  
  


\-----

  
  


“Kageyama, wait!” The blond girl came running just in time to catch up with the teen. 

“What now?” The boy barked back. He didn’t mean to sound as harsh as he did, but he was hurt and tired. Right now he didn’t want to talk with Yachi, in all honesty he wanted to get back home and forget all about his encounter with Hinata and the demons.

Surprisingly, Yachi was not taken aback by his harsh reply, she had a pitiful look on her face and for once, Kageyama could feel that it was not directed at him.

“I know it's not my place, but please, don’t be too hard on Hinata.” She pleaded sweetly. “I can tell he didn’t mean to put you in a tough spot. He just,” Yachi struggled to find the words she needed to convey her message “doesn’t get it sometimes, you know?” Kageyama didn’t, if his scrunched eyebrows were any indication. Yachi sighed. “Hinata is the type of person who will do impulsive things when trying to help others. He means well, I promise.” She smiled fondly. “Even though I agree that most of the time his methods aren’t the best way to go with it. But I  _ know _ he really wanted to help you and your sister. He would have never allowed anything to happen to you.” 

Yachi had her fists tightened in front of her chest, a determined and focused gaze on Kageyama, trying desperately to make her point across. Kageyama couldn’t help but give in a little. His shoulders sagged a bit as he let his head fall.

“I’ll think about it.” He mumbled back. “Right now I want to go home, it’s been a long day.” Kageyama finished dryly. 

The girl nodded and set for accompanying him in silence up to the state’s main gates. 

The sun was setting in the horizon by the time Kageyama made his way back home. He had a lot to think about and many more questions now flooding his thoughts. The dark haired figure crossed the threshold of the Ushijima state, finally disappearing from the view of the short ginger spying him from the clay tiles on the roof.

“You are planning on meeting him again, aren’t you?” The voice was aloof, but Hinata knew that it was the way his friend spoke. There was no ill intentions or malice in the other’s voice. Just his way of showing concern.

“I won’t push him.” Hinata replied. “But I just have this feeling that he is the key to help me, Kenma. Even if Suga and the rest are against it. I  _ know _ that there’s still a possibility. I can’t… I can’t just give up, you know?” He turned to give a hopeful look at his friend. “Especially not now when I found someone who can help me. I just have to find a way to earn his trust.” He finished as he redirected his gaze at Kageyama. 

“Shouyo.” The short blond man with long dark roots came to place his elbows on the window as he let out the ginger’s name in warning.

“Kenma. Just. I need this, okay?” Hinata let out in frustration. “I won’t get in trouble, I  _ promise _ . I’m just asking you not to tell Suga, could you do that for me?”

Hinata looked at his friend with his pleading look. The big puppy eyes that made Kenma give in everytime he used them against him. The blond boy rolled his eyes as he got himself detached from the window where they had been watching Kageyama leave the property. 

“Fine, I won’t say anything.” Kenma groaned. “But at least take someone from the zodiac with you. Nothing good ever comes whenever you get ideas.” He huffed.

Hinata perked up as he gasped at the other boy. “Kenma!!” He cried out. “Are you seriously volunteering to help me?!” 

  
Kenma gave him a look of disgust at the mere idea of Hinata having suggested what he had. “I meant as in  _ take someone else _ .” He finished before disappearing back into their bedroom, ignoring Hinata’s laughing fit coming from outside the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure: There was no need for the cast to be the zodiac at all, but since the game uses the animals of the eastern zodiac as the different Kami and this and the personality they show in the game was the reason that made me choose the different members of the cast for the different roles, I felt obligated to include it. It won't have too much relevance for the plot more than for using it as the name of the group and nicknames to each other.
> 
> Glossary:
> 
> Genkan: are traditional Japanese entryway areas for a house, apartment, or building. Something of a combination of a porch and a doormat.


	5. Cursed Zones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thank you so much for leaving your comments and kudos! You guys are the best!  
> I’m sorry for how long it took to update, I have to manage my schedule better and I’m still trying to figure things out. Nevertheless! The next chapter is almost finished as well, so I’m assuming I’ll be taking less than two weeks next time.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!

The alarm of his clock rang louder and louder. With some vicious attempts at shutting it up, Kageyama groaned at the very heavy feeling in his body by the rough awakening. He stretched in his bed and after acknowledging how much and how deep he had slept, he recalled with certain apprehension the fact that he hadn’t dreamt of Hinata last night either.

_Hinata._ The apparent god who had tricked him while taking advantage of his desperation, anxiety and fear of losing his sister. The scowl on Kageyama’s face deepened as he mulled over what had happened. He was still pretty hurt about the way the ginger had gone about things yesterday, but in the end, Tobio had been able to not only heal Miwa, discovering his own powers and abilities in the process, but also, he had found out things he didn’t even imagined about his grandfather and the mysteries of the world around him. Things that excited him. Things that terrified him. Things that he could _feel_ deep inside calling for him. 

Kageyama sat up on his bed, springs squeaking under the weight shift of the teen. Now that he was rested and with a much clearer head, the words of the blond girl started to hit more forcefully and threatened to break the walls Kageyama had built around the idea of meeting the Kami once more. Maybe he had been too harsh on the ginger? He had been upset, he had felt betrayed and hurt at the moment. It was unfair how Hinata had taken advantage of the situation. That was undeniable. But the lingering feeling that his anger was coming from a different source was starting to make him doubt his conviction. 

What was he so upset about? Having been deceived by the god or about the fact that Hinata hadn’t been completely honest with him? If Hinata had told him that he wanted to test a hunch out, would have Tobio accepted without fussing over it? He had taken the words of the ginger to heart from the start. He knew that he would have said yes. He knew deep down that the outcome wouldn’t have changed, but for some reason, it made all the difference for Kageyama.

Maybe he had overreacted after all. Maybe _he_ owed _Hinata_ an apology.

Kageyama huffed loudly. It was evident that all this overthinking came from the fact that he wanted to see the ginger again, even if he was angry at him. Could it be that all these weird feelings were because of the mystical aura coming from the Kami? Was he being pulled to Hinata’s divine presence now that he was aware of what the boy was? Well, it certainly wasn’t the personality of the little gremling. That sunny, happy and bright puppy vibes that the short guy shot out everywhere without discrimination, were _definitely_ not the reason why Kageyama found himself wanting to see his stupid grinning face again. No. Absolutely not.

He threw the covers out of the way and stood up from the bed. There was nothing Tobio could do about it right now, though. The more time he spent thinking about what he had or wanted to do, wouldn’t change the fact that he had to go to school, so it was better to start getting ready and let afternoon’s Kageyama to deal with his problems. Right now, all Tobio wanted to do was eat breakfast, take a shower and drink a tall, cold glass of milk.

\-----

“Hinata. I told you that I would talk to him. You didn’t have to come.” 

“No Yacchan, this is the perfect plan!” The ginger exclaimed excitedly as his friend just rolled her eyes for an answer, too used to Hinata’s shenanigans. “If I want him to listen to what I have to say, I need to show how determined I am!”

“I still don’t understand what _I’m_ doing here.” A freckled boy answered instead.

“You are here just in case Hinata decides to do something stupid while I’m not here to keep an eye on him. I’m entrusting him to you, Tadashi.” Yachi ignored the squawking of the offended ginger as she placed her hand gently on the freckled boy’s shoulder. The boy, Yamaguchi Tadashi, gave a sheepish laugh back, knowing too well the meaning of the gesture. “Unlike you two, I _do_ need to attend school.” 

“I’m offended, you know.” Hinata retorted. “I am perfectly capable of keeping myself away from trouble until your morning break, Yachi.” He had his arms crossed and a very evident pout on his expression. “Even if a gate were to set off unexpectedly.” He scoffed sarcastically.

Yachi and Yamaguchi arched an eyebrow at the same time. Having grown up as childhood friends, they were used to the kind of problems the very loud, very bright small ginger tended to drag them to.

“It’s not the demons we are worried about, Hinata.” Yachi continued. “It’s your way to draw unwanted attention wherever you go, especially in places where you _shouldn’t be_ . Like here. In my school, wearing a _uniform_.”

“Uwah!” Hinata let out in excitement as he was reminded of his clothing. “Isn’t it cool though! I never wear this amount of black!” He said excitedly as he twirled in place. Missing the girl’s point completely.

“This is what I’m talking about!” Yachi rolled her eyes. “Just. Just _try_ to blend in with the rest of the students, _please_.” She begged. “Or better yet! Why don’t you go and hide in a bathroom, or the gym! I don’t know.” She threw her arms in the air. 

“But that would have the complete opposite effect!” Hinata whined. “The idea is to meet Kageyama before he goes to class! Like yesterday! See?” He proudly showed Yachi the paper bag he held in his hands. “I even brought meat buns! Who can stay mad after eating meat buns?” He asked as if it was the most preposterous idea ever. “The perfect plan!” He finished with a grin and a proud look on his face.

The three teens were in front of the opened metal gates of Karasuno High School. After realizing that Kageyama and Yachi went to the same school, Hinata had come up with a plan to ask Kageyama for his forgiveness. His idea was that with a very dramatic, over the top surprise visit first thing in the morning to his school, Kageyama would realize how sorry Hinata actually was and would end up accepting his apology. And in the _impossible_ scenario that Kageyama remained angry after his sincere and profound apology, he had secured meat and curry buns from Sakanoshita’s store. And really, who could remain angry after eating one? No one that is. Hinata was very proud of his perfect plan.

Not everyone thought about his plan in the same way though. After word spread that Hinata had borrowed (stolen) a school uniform from one of the neighboring houses in the Ushijima State, Yachi ran over towards Yamaguchi, knowing that her devoted boyfriend would help rein back the excitable Kami back to the main house. Unfortunately, when they caught up with Hinata, they found the orange haired boy already gathering enough attention at the school’s gates, securing a parade of stares and whispers from the students getting into the school. 

“Hinata, I don’t really understand why you want to talk with this guy _right now_.” Yamaguchi interrupted Yachi’s frustrated hand movements. “You could have just waited for Hitoka to bring him to the house in the afternoon.”

Hinata avoided the questioning glances of his friends, his mood returning to a more sour one. 

“I can’t wait that long! I need to make things right.” He whined. “Besides, if what Kenma told me yesterday happens to be true, Kageyama could unconsciously trigger gates. So somebody has to warn him about that.” Hinata said with a little more conviction.

“I could what now?”

The trio flinched at the low voice coming from behind them. With slow movements, they turned to look at the scowling tall, dark haired looming figure that was Kageyama Tobio.

“Kageyama!” Yachi let out with a nervous laugh. “Hi there! Did you make it back home all right yesterday?” She chuckled out forcefully.

“What are you doing here?” Kageyama narrowed his eyes at Hinata, completely ignoring the other two teens.

Hinata got caught up in his words. “What do you mean? I- I study here!” 

“No you _don’t_.” Kageyama let out knowingly. Not because he doubted the words of Hinata, but because Kageyama had already gone through numerous yearbooks in his search of the mysterious ginger of his dreams. So yes, he was absolutely certain that Hinata was not a member of his school.

“Well, I-I do now.” Hinata bickered back with shaky confidence, trying to gain some ground on his lies. “I need education and they say this school has an amazing volleyball team.” He looked away trying to divert the attention to something else, as to not get caught.

“Why would you care about that? You’d barely reach the net. You would suck horribly at the sport.” Kageyama scoffed, getting riled up by no apparent reason more than the need to argue back at the ginger.

“Hey!” Hinata fell for the jab at his size and became offended for real, forgetting completely why he was here in the first place. “How do you know?! I bet I would be great! I can jump really high, you know!” 

Kageyama narrowed his eyes back. Meeting the ginger so suddenly and unprepared made him angrier, but this stupid fight wasn’t why he was angry in the first place, so why was he being so petty? Hadn’t he been thinking about wanting to meet Hinata again? To make amends? To talk about what had happened yesterday? Clearly insulting his height wasn’t a way to start things over.

His irritation was taking out the best of himself, though. And this was just Kageyama finding an outlet to his pent up frustration about things he wasn’t even sure about. It was just that he related his anger with Hinata. It was the Kami, after all, the one responsible for all the changes and turbulences happening in his life at the moment. If it wasn’t for the dreams, if it wasn’t for the shrine encounter, if it wasn’t for his involvement with _Hinata_ , he wouldn’t be so confused, hurt, troubled and upset right now.

“Whatever.” Kageyama clicked his tongue loudly. He decided to make his way out. He wanted to make sense of his own thoughts before fighting with the Kami about things he didn’t even comprehend. “I don’t care what you do anyways.” He pushed through the group, making Hinata fumble at the spot.

Hinata panicked. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. He was supposed to make a big gesture about being wrong and sorry, then he would offer the meat buns and everything would be settled. He would be able to go back knowing that everything was right again. That he hadn’t messed it up. _Again_. He didn’t mean to hurt Kageyama, he had just wanted to help. 

“Wait! Kageyama!” Hinata cried out. “I’m sorry.” He said as he bowed his head. “I’m truly sorry for putting you in such a stressful situation yesterday. I didn’t mean it. I-” He choked. “I really just wanted to help.”

Kageyama stopped but he didn’t show any acknowledgement of Hinata’s words.

“I was selfish and didn’t think about what you were going through. I didn’t mean to hurt you, really! I just felt that you could do it, but I should have asked you. I should have healed your sister and then see if you could do better.” He continued. “I know you are mad at me, and you have all the right to be so! But it would be really awesome if you changed your mind about coming to train with us. I wasn’t lying when I said that you are really something else.” Hinata’s voice had turned soft, truthful. He was really putting his all into asking Kageyama for forgiveness. “I know you’ll be capable of amazing things, even if you don’t want to have anything to do with me afterwards.”

The silence fell onto the group, stretching as other students made their ways past them. Yamaguchi shifted his stance slightly at the awkward pressure that was felt in those moments.

“Ok.” Kageyama finally let out in a soft huff, making Hinata perk up at the words. “I’ll go with you once school finishes and see what you can teach me. Only then I’ll decide what I want to do.”

“Kageyama!” Hinata gasped happily. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” He bowed his head again, though the gesture was lost to the taller teen. “I’ll treat you with some meat buns! I promise you will want to stay!” He cheered.

Kageyama could feel the grin at his back warming his way to his body. “Whatever.” He grumbled, still not turning to look at Hinata. He could feel it. Just like that, all his pent up frustration had evaporated. He didn’t want to show how quickly he had been moved by the ginger’s words. Kageyama had to remain in control a little longer, but he certainly would have to ask the silver haired priest there if this was a normal reaction from the humans towards the gods. It was not normal how fast he could be swayed by Hinata’s words and actions alone. 

“I’ll see you later then.” Kageyama said, unable to look back as he started his walk towards the school, leaving the trio behind.

Hinata let out his breath relieved. His tension finally left his body as he smiled softly at his achievement. He felt happy, at peace. He hadn’t realized how nervous and fazed he was about meeting Kageyama again and apologizing. How important it had been for the other to forgive him, to give him a second chance. He needed Kageyama’s help, that was true, but for some reason, he was happy that the raven haired, broody teen wasn’t angry at him anymore, even despite that. 

“Well, that didn’t go horribly. Way to go Hinata!” Yamaguchi praised him with the perfect balance between mockery and tenderness.

“See? I told you! It was the perfect plan!” Hinata grinned brightly, completely missing Yamaguchi’s attempt at making fun of him. With an excited movement of his arms, he realized he was still holding the paper bag with the delicious meat buns he had brought for Kageyama, jumping on his spot. “Gwah!!! I forgot!” Hinata squealed, turning to look for the leaving teen. “Kageyama! I brought you something!” He shouted at the emptiness of the school’s front gates. “Huh? Kageyama?”

The group looked at the school’s grounds and then at each other in confusion. It hadn’t been that much time for Kageyama to disappear so quickly into the school. But, now that they were really looking into the school, they noticed it was more than that. For the first time they noticed their surroundings, their eerily quiet surroundings.

“That’s weird.” Yachi let out. “Isn’t it _too_ quiet?” 

To be almost time to start classes, the school’s grounds were deserted. It appeared that all activity and noises were coming from _outside_ the school grounds; where they were standing, but from the other side of the metal railing gates, there was no soul to be accounted for. With impending curiosity and a feeling of foreboding, they followed with their eyes the strides of two students laughing and chattering, making their way past them. All the buzzing activity and snickering of just moments before, died with them disappearing as they crossed the barely defined school gates. 

Yachi gasped in shock. 

“There’s no gate.” Yamaguchi let out in apprehensive disbelief. “So how is that possible?”

“That has never happened!” Yachi cried out looking at Hinata for answers. “I’ve never seen that happen at school before! I would have sensed it.”

The ginger narrowed his eyes at the building in front. Theories and ideas crept on the back of his mind until a rather dark one popped up, making him gasp out loud. 

“No way!” With a sudden start, he sprinted towards the school gates startling the other two into following him. He stared at the floor and the metal frames enclosing the school, analyzing deeply the boundaries of the area. He could feel the crackling energy sipping from it, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, but not to his divine gaze. 

With furrowed brows and an ominously serious countenance, Hinata touched the railing, flinching at the contact with a low hiss. His eyes widened at the realization and his face was contorted in alarm as he faced his friends again. “This place has become a cursed zone.” 

“What?!” Yamaguchi and Yachi gasped in unison.

“This is no sacred place.” Hinata had his determined gaze set on the school building, almost as if he could see something else there. “But for a cursed zone to appear, there must be a very powerful demon nearby.”

Without a faltering move, Hinata placed a hand on the same spot as before and braced himself as he stepped over the railing trail of the gates and into the school grounds. As if trespassing a portal of sorts, the area around the ginger transformed into nothing like what it was supposed to look like. The barren gravel area of the school front yard was nowhere to be seen, and in its place, a mossy and rock flooring covered all Hinata could place his eyes on. 

Soon enough, Yamaguchi and Yachi were following Hinata’s lead, noticing in disbelief how they appeared to be inside a cavern of sorts now. A looming huge, humid rock wall all around them that barely let any light to filter from the outside. As if the feeling of suffocation wasn’t enough, the school’s entrance and probably their only way out of the cursed place at their backs, had dissolved into the rock solid stone walls after they finished trespassing into the unknown territory.

They huddled over as they made sense of their surroundings. Overgrown moss and plants sprawled everywhere. Huge mushrooms, trees and bushes grew in all sorts of ways, filling the cavernous area with huge roots crawling from the floor and into softer places into the wall. The ceiling had been overrun by vegetation as well, making branches and vines to dangle from above, moving slowly by the outside breeze making them seem almost as if they were alive. The green overcast at their heads barely let any light to filter, but the vegetations from the inside of the dungeon had evolved to emit its own light; giving an eerily green glow to their surroundings. 

At the very end of the spacious room’s walls, there were different tunnels moving deeper into the unknown areas of the cave. All of them appeared to lead into different directions, giving the feeling that something or _many somethings_ used this place as a nest of sorts. The sudden screeches from the inside of the tunnels made Yachi move closer to Yamaguchi, trying to feel a bit of reassurance from his protection. They could feel the spiritual energy overflowing the area. Even if this weren’t a sacred space, nor were they inside a gate; this much energy was enough to materialize all kinds of spirits, demons and Kami who entered it.

There was no doubt. There was a very powerful creature lurking in the area, capable of distorting the space in such ways that they couldn’t even go back to their own realm anymore. They were trapped in here and if yesterday was any indication of Kageyama’s abilities, there was a possibility that he may have been dragged involuntarily in as well.

Hinata looked at Yachi, who, grasping immediately their situation, was taking out paper slips from her backpack; talismans and charms that would help to create barriers and restorative spells if needed. At her other side, Yamaguchi’s Kamic form was on full display. As Hinata, he also had red ink markings around his eyes, cheeks and forehead. His clothes, though different from the ginger’s, were still in their red and white color palette, except for his black tobi, cuffed in the ankles by the red tabi boots on his feet. With practiced movements, Yamaguchi took his right hand towards his back and held onto the hilt of his double edge broadsword. 

In a swift motion, he took from the seemingly normal sized sheath at his back, a huge tsurugi that was the size of Yamaguchi himself. His trusty divine sword; Kusanagi. 

Yamaguchi Tadashi was, after all, the incarnation of Tachigami; the Rending God. Capable of slashing, cutting and mincing every single opponent with just the swish of his sword. True to the nature of his first manifestation, people would deem Yamaguchi as someone frail and weak at first, but everytime, the rat would prove himself to be one of the smartest and fiercest members of the Zodiac.

“Don’t lower your guard.” Hinata warned as he went to take out his own Divine Instrument from his back. “We are definitely not alone.”

“What do we do now?” Yachi asked as she held tightly the paper slips in her hands. “The entrance disappeared.”

“If we kill the demon who created the curse, we should be able to dispel it.” Hinata replied reassuringly. “Let’s focus on that. The longer we stay here, the more demons can appear.” 

A loud painful grunt echoed in the rightmost tunnel, followed by running footsteps and the noise of what seemed like a skirmish. The identifiable noises coming from the cave sounded worryingly _human_ , a possible bystander sucked in by the spiritual power in the area.

_Kageyama._ Hinata thought immediately, before dashing towards the origin of the noise. Yamaguchi and Yachi at his heels, running after the ginger with their warnings echoing on the stone tall cavern. 

The group came to a stop when they saw a group of green imps corralling a very frightened, but determined Kageyama who was swinging a big wooden branch against the ones that dared to get closer. Apparently the beasts had come to respect the raven’s makeshift weapon, as more than one green creature lay unconscious on the floor, prey to Kageyama’s batting skills and determination to survive.

“Kageyama!” Hinata cried out, making the group of demons and a startled Kageyama, snap their heads towards the newcomers. “Yachi! Hold a barrier! There may be more in the area.” He commanded.

The girl took out one of the papers in her hands and closed her eyes as she mumbled words and phrases to the thin white sheet. With a quick flick of her wrist she threw the slip to the floor behind them, immediately flashing an orange zapping circle around the entrance of the tunnel.

Hinata and Yamaguchi had already pushed towards Kageyama, brandishing their respective divine weapons and slicing the monsters quickly and effectively. In mere seconds, the area had been cleared and the bodies of the creatures were now a pyrotechnic display of bursting flower petals.

Kageyama fell on his knees, holding his wood branch tightly and close to his chest, in the perfect mix of relief and fear. He had been saved. He was not alone. He wouldn’t die.

“Kageyama?” Hinata’s voice barely made it to his ears. “Kageyama, are you okay?” He repeated, scared that the human might have been hurt in the time it took for them to arrive.

“Here.” Yachi was taking out from her backpack a small omamori; a beautiful blue charm commonly sold at various shrines and temples.

Kageyama held onto it with a puzzling and questioning look. He was trying so hard to make sense of what was happening around him. He had just been on his way to school when the whole area morphed into a nightmarish cave. Disconcerted at first he started to look for a way out, only to find himself lost in one of the tunnels. Just in seconds from stepping into it, he had been spotted by a group of the same green hairy creatures that had destroyed his family’s shrine a couple of days back. 

He had screamed for help only for his cries to resound in the emptiness of the cavern. So he ran away from them and ended up brandishing a loose branch on the floor. Just when he thought he was done for, the little orange haired god had come back to save him. Again. Why was this happening to him again? Why had he suddenly become a magnet of demons, kami and problems?

Kageyama was so absorbed in his mind, that the praying words of the blond passed right through his ears and only when the charm in his hands glowed brightly and vanished, he finally managed to put his mind at ease, grasping the reality of his situation.

“Are you better now?” Yachi asked softly, helping Kageyama to stand up. When he looked at his empty hands, Yachi gave him a wide smile in return. “Don’t worry, I just used a Kenko charm, your injuries should be all healed.” 

Kageyama looked at the trio, recognizing now Yachi and the other guy at the front of the school. He was a Kami as well, he noted. The crimson markings in his face highlighted his freckles even more, or were the freckles also crimson? Kageyama shook his head as that wasn’t his priority number one worry at the moment. 

“What is this place?” He asked the group. “What happened to the school?”

The group looked at each other assessing how much they should mention to the still very impressionable human. Kageyama was still clearly in shock, but he had defended himself from the imps quite admirably and there wasn’t a way to sugarcoat the harsh reality of them being trapped in the cursed zone either.

Hinata gave a heavy sigh, already worrying about going about this the wrong way. He scratched his head in a nervous gesture.

“Kageyama, this may sound a bit worse than what it actually is, but everything will be fine, okay?” Hinata smiled sheepishly at the kneeling boy. “We are currently trapped in a cavern with no way out.”

“What?!” Kageyama barked out, clearly alarmed and not at all soothed by the ginger’s words.

Yamaguchi slapped his own face at the interaction before huffing loudly, interrupting Hinata from continuing panicking Kageyama even further. 

“We are not _trapped,_ trapped.” Yamaguchi corrected. “It’s just that the entrance to this cave is not the same we need for getting out.” Kageyama tilted his head in confusion, but at the mention of a possible way out, he seemed to have settled down a bit. “We are currently in a place called a cursed zone.” He explained slowly. “Or even more correctly; we are trapped in what’s most probably a demon’s lair.” 

“Demon’s lair?” Kageyama parroted slowly, clearly uneased by the explanation.

“Yup!” Hinata said too brightly for someone following after the words “demon” and “lair”. “But don’t worry Kageyama! We are here to protect you! We’ll find a way out in no time!” He grinned big and warmly and Kageyama couldn’t help but believe his words. Even his own chest inexplicably relaxed at the sight of Hinata’s warmth and confidence. He wanted to retort and asked the ginger why he thought that. Or where his stupid confidence came from as to believe that everything was going to be okay? But instead, he stood up with some difficulty and decided to trust in the soothing words that he really needed to hear. 

“Thank you.” Kageyama let out in a choked voice. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t come.” 

Hinata blinked once at the earnest gratitude from Kageyama, clearly not expecting them. It was the first time the raven had thanked him, and after how they had parted ways yesterday, the feeling of being thanked at and possibly forgiven, made Hinata soft in the insides. In raw excitement and happiness, he gave Kageyama his brightest smile in return.

“That’s what friends are for!” 

It was blinding and Kageyama was not able to withstand the powers of that bright smile. Recovering his sanity and perpetual scowl, he shoved his hand into the ginger’s face and pushed through towards Yachi and Yamaguchi, ignoring the giggles of the ginger.

“Thank you too.” He blushed a bit after thanking the two remaining members of the party. It was his first time ever interacting so earnestly with anybody and it was clearly showing. “I feel much better now.”

Yachi chuckled at the compliment, feeling amused at the honest reactions of Kageyama. “Well, if you know the correct prayer I bet even you could do it. It’s less dangerous than what these two guys do, but playing support is fun as well.” She smiled.

“I’m glad you aren’t hurt, Kageyama.” The other boy replied with a smile as he greeted Kageyama. “And don’t worry! That’s pretty much a Kami’s job anyway.” He laughed shyly. 

_A Kami’s job._ Kageyama had to remind himself that he was dealing with gods and demons, even if they looked so ordinarily human and just like him. _They weren’t._

“Kageyama, by any chance, did you see or hear anybody else in the time you were here?” Yachi asked, returning to a more serious face expression. 

“No. As far as I know, I’m the only one in this cave.” Kageyama replied.

“That’s good.” Hinata chimed in. “We haven't seen a cursed zone in like forever, and certainly not one as big as this one! The demon in this place must be horrifying-” The Kami noticed the shocked expression of the human and fretted. “I-I mean don’t worry Kageyama! Nothing will happen to you! I’m here after all!” He puffed his chest and chuckled trying to play down the situation. 

Yamaguchi shook his head as he huffed amused. “Well, nonetheless, we still should have our eyes open. It’s probable that the demon created this place as their feeding ground. It wouldn’t surprise me that someone with a heavy load of negative emotions would be sucked into this space.”

Hinata scoffed. “It’s a _school,_ Yamaguchi! The most boring place on earth!” He whined. “I’m pretty sure the demons are feasting right now just from the emotions of sleep deprived, overly anxious teenagers alone. I doubt that there should be a need to bring in a human to feed on directly.” Hinata gave a look at Kageyama when the raven teen choked on air.

“What?!” Kageyama cried out loud. “Feed on humans?!” 

“Not _actual_ feeding Kageyama! Emotional feeding, remember? Demons power themselves up on human’s negative emotions.” Yachi calmly reminded Kageyama to lessen his anxiety. “These places are the results of a powerful demon creating a space in between realms where their minions can haunt humans and harvest their negativity. Our classmates aren’t even aware that this place exists.” 

“Then how come _we_ ended up here?”

“You probably got sucked in by mistake. It’s probably because you don’t have much control over your powers yet. No unsuspecting human would be able to barge in like we did. You are either dragged in or you enter by acknowledging the existence of it.” Hinata explained as he took his hand to his chin, remembering. “Now that you mention it though,” He started. “Kenma mentioned something about why you could trigger gates.”

“Trigger them?”

“He said that raw unfocused power can tear the space in between these thin walls. There isn’t much resistance to begin with, so for someone like you who is just bursting this power around, it would be easy to open these spaces.” 

Kageyama was looking a bit anxious. Maybe the training at the Ushijima’s estate was not a bad plan after all. If he was unconsciously passing through these zones, the next time he did could be a time where Hinata wasn’t going to be close. He shuddered a bit at the thought. 

“So how do I get out when something like this happens?”

“Well,” Hinata stretched out the consonant, trying to come up with a softer way to tell Kageyama of their conundrum. “These places don’t work like normal gates, so they can’t be exited through their respective entrances. You know, the place that delimits their boundaries. Instead, they exist in their own space and the only way to get out of them is getting rid of the demon that created it in the first place.”

“I would have to go against such a creature?!” Kageyama asked, appalled. 

“You may or may not have to.” Hinata waved his hand in front of his face. “For such a demon to manifest in the mortal realm, it has to be linked to an object within this realm to channel its power from. Kind of how Kami channel their powers from a shintai, if you want to think of it as that. Without a proper link, the demon wouldn’t be able to materialize in the first place. We just have to find it and destroy it! Easy as that!” Hinata finished with a thumbs up and a wide smile.

Within the small amount of time Kageyama had known Hinata, he already was sensing an ominous hinting hidden in the words of the ginger. So much so that Kageyama could only wonder. Had Hinata meant the object, right? As in, they would have to find and destroy whatever object was linking the creature and not go lurking into a menacing, dark, terrifying cavern filled with demons just to go against said creature capable of _warping space itself_ , right?

Kageyama really thought that Hinata was strong, no doubt, he had proven himself worthy of the title in previous occasions… but how _strong_ was strong? Realistically speaking, the ginger was barely around 5,4” and despite his apparent godhood, Hinata still looked a bit frail in Tobio’s opinion. He could do with a little more meat in his arms and legs. The other Kami was also here, that was true, and the massive sword he was holding did look dangerous, but still, Kageyama couldn’t help the feeling of dread at the lightness with which they were talking about the idea of facing the creature they had just described.

“Hinata, please tell me you mean the object.” Kageyama let out as he couldn’t bear the idea any longer. “As in we just need to destroy the _object_ and not the demon.” 

Hinata turned to look at Kageyama in the eyes. A fiery determination boiling in his features, almost as if the Kami _wanted_ to battle against the creature. The intensity shocked Kageyama, reminding him about his first encounter with Hinata and the fear the figure standing in the honden had caused him. He swallowed hard, trying to down the answer he knew he was gonna get.

“Whichever finds us first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have our first new Kami! What do you think of our sword wielding little Yams? I’ll probably come around to draw these guys one day. Until then, you’ll just have to use your imagination!
> 
> Glossary:  
> Tobi: Type of baggy pants to a point below the knee, abruptly narrowing at the ankles.  
> Tabi: Japanese two toes socks. (In the case of Yam’s they have soles, so, technically, they are Jika-Tabi)  
> Tsurugi: An old type of Japanese broad double edge sword. It is believed to have a connection with the divine. One of the three imperial regalia of Japan is the blade Kusanagi no Tsurugi. (In this fic is the same blade as Yamaguchi.)  
> Omamori: Charms sold at Shrines and Temples dedicated to different Kami for luck and protection.  
> Kenko charm: Is the name of the Omamori related to good health.
> 
> Bestiary:  
> Imps: Rude monkey-like creatures that harass and tease humans. They are low level demons, and their colors vary depending on their power and hierarchy.


	6. What lurks within

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone!! Thank you so much for your continuous support, likes, comments and words of encouragements! You can't imagine what they mean to this still learning author. I'm so happy you are enjoying this weird crossover, I just hope I can keep you interested as the story develops!
> 
> Infinite thanks as always to ghostofcalum, for lending me her amazing head for those brainstorming sessions. You are amazing!
> 
> Hope you like this chapter!

Kageyama wasn’t sure how much time had passed since they got themselves locked in the cavern. The hordes of incoming creatures had finally ceased, either by meeting their demise at the hands of Hinata’s mirror and Yamaguchi’s feral blade or by the diligent praying the smallest member of their group kept on reciting. Kageyama was amazed by how the apparent frail girl was not only standing her ground against the different monsters that kept on attacking, but was keeping them at bay by effectively creating a protective barrier as they advanced through the dungeon. 

Seeing Yachi doing so well in their current situation, made Kageyama feel somewhat self conscious when comparing himself to the blond girl. It’s not as if he hadn’t been helpful to the group in getting rid of the monsters. Furthermore, with his now really sharp wooden spear, thanks to Yamaguchi’s help in turning his branch into a more lethal weapon, Kageyama had been exceptionally successful in reducing the menaces that came their way. In more than one occasion he had been tasked to protect Yachi as she casted her prayers onto her paper slips, earning him the praise of the other two Kami in return. But even so, more than the battle prowess shown by the girl, it was the fact that Yachi didn’t seem fazed by their situation. She didn’t seem to worry about the fact that they were trapped, concerningly exhausted and with no clues as if they were even getting closer to what they were looking for. 

Kageyama couldn’t help but stare at the petite blonde’s figure, intrigued by her. Wasn’t Yachi as much a human as he was? Where was all this determination and serenity coming from? Wasn’t she worried? Scared? Did she have so much confidence in her own skills as to not fear the unknown? Or was it maybe that she had her faith placed in the two Kami in front of them? She seemed to feel really comfortable at leaving their fates in the hands of the two chattering boys a couple of steps from them.

“Kageyama, I can feel you glaring at me.” The girl let out with a nervous voice. “It’s making me nervous.” 

Tobio flinched. He didn't mean to stare, he just wanted to know.

“I wasn’t glaring.” He said in a low mumble, remembering how many times he had been told that his usual deep in thought face would make other people around uncomfortable. “I was just thinking.”

Yachi chuckled as she huddled a little closer to the broody teen. “About what?” 

Kageyama pouted as he averted his eyes from the girl, his tone going lower as he felt embarrassed about his own self doubts being exposed. “On how you seem much more fit for this than I do.”

Yachi stared at him with a puzzling expression. She blinked a couple of times processing the information before letting out a loud chuckle. “You are joking, right?” She asked between laughs.

Kageyama just tightened his lips as a deep blush crept on his cheeks. He was not used to being mocked or laughed at. Not directly at least.

“Kageyama, give yourself some credit!” Yachi patted his shoulder lightly as she smiled fondly at him. “I’ve been training against demons since I was 5.” She let out with another amused laugh. “Isn’t this like the first time you have had to face something like this?”

“Yesterday was my first.” Kageyama mumbled back, still scowling at the floor. “My very first time I just fled in panic.” 

Yachi huffed as she shook her head. “Kageyama, it’s okay if you are scared. I remember my first missions and believe me, you are doing way better than me!” Yachi encouraged him with a big smile.

“No, I mean.” He groaned as he got tangled with the words that didn’t seem to form in his head. “About the whole trusting thing?”

Yachi stepped back for a second, trying to understand what Kageyama meant. “The trust thing?” She followed the gaze of Kageyama that lingered in the Kami walking some distance far ahead. “You mean trusting Hinata and Tadashi?” She asked, still confused. 

Kageyama nodded slowly. “Like, how are you so certain that everything is going to be okay?”

Yachi gave him a final confused look before her face relaxed, finally understanding the concerns of Kageyama. “I don’t  _ know _ if everything is going to be okay. There is no certainty about that, Kageyama.” She said as Kageyama’s brows just furrowed deeper. “But what I know for certain is that we are all here  _ together _ .” She looked at the Kami in front of them and then back at Kageyama, a big smile and soft eyes directed at the teen. “So I  _ know _ that they wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me, or you, _ ”  _ she was quick to emphasize, “ever. That’s what makes me think that everything will be alright.”

“Because it's their job?”

“No! I mean, sure. But it’s more than that. It’s because we are friends. And friends take care of each other, Kageyama.” She gestured to the branch on his hand. “As you have been protecting me and I have been protecting you. Not because it’s my job. I care for you, Hinata and Tadashi because we are friends.” She said smiling. “Or at least I would like us to be.” Yachi looked over to Hinata who was turned back at the pair, intrigued by them lagging behind. “And I’m sure that Hinata thinks the same, so he won’t let anything bad happen to you either.” 

It was that simple? They were friends? All that certainty and trust in each other was because they were friends? It’s not like Kageyama didn’t have any friends, he had that guy who shared his homework with a couple of months ago. He was a nice guy. Maybe. Well, they hadn’t talked much, but he seemed like a nice guy, right? No wait. He had copied his answers and then blamed Kageyama for his low grade. That couldn’t be it. Well, there was also the kid who sat in front of him in class. Sometimes they would lend each other their erasers. Yeah! Tobio did have a friend. Someone you share your erasers with, is certainly someone you can consider your friend. It wasn’t his  _ best _ friend, sure, but still, it counted. Okay. Maybe that wasn’t the best example either. 

“If you keep doing that face it will stick, you know?” Hinata teased him as he flicked a finger in the wrinkles between Kageyama’s eyebrows. 

Kageyama swatted the ginger’s hand out of his face angrily after being startled by the sudden strike, but Hinata was quick in avoiding the hit as he chuckled back at the huffing tall boy.

“I was just trying to help! You have this scary face when you are thinking so deeply!” Hinata mocked. “Are you planning to scare the demons with it?” 

“I’ll show you a scary face!” Kageyama growled as he pounced on the Kami, only for Hinata to avoid him again in a fit of laughter. The two chased each other, running further into the cavernous area, Hinata’s laughter echoing in the cave’s barren walls.

Hinata came to an impromptu halt, making Kageyama crash against him and tumbling both of them to the ground with a mixture of groaning sounds at the collision.

“Dumbass! Why the hell did you do that for?!” Kageyama barked as he grabbed the collar of the Kami’s clothes. 

“Hinata!” Yamaguchi came to his side, followed closely by Yachi. “What happened?”

Seemingly unfazed by Kageyama’s rough manhandling, Hinata pointed towards a tunnel entryway in front of them. The group followed his finger with their gazes and even if no one could see anything from within the depths of the dark hallway that Hinata kept on looking intently towards, they could still  _ feel it. _ A presence. A shiver crawling down their spines signalling that  _ something _ was definitely at the end of it.

“Hinata?” Yachi ventured. 

“It’s here. The demon is at the end of that tunnel.” Hinata said without a note of his previous joyful and playful attitude. He was focused. Eerily so. “Do you feel it? The pressure is almost unbearable.”

The group remained silent. Kageyama let go of Hinata's robe as the chill finally settled in the bottom of his stomach. He knew that feeling. Dread. It felt like peering into an abyss, only to get the rush of panic and vertigo at the idea of falling into it. 

“Are we going in?” Kageyama asked, hoping, really hoping that there was an alternative to entering the beast’s lair.

“We don’t have a choice.” Hinata replied standing to his feet and helping Kageyama to his feet. “There is no way that such a demon would have his ticket to the mortal realm laying out and about.” He said matter of factly. A sudden grin appeared in his face. Hinata turned to look at the other team members with mischief in his glare. “So. Who is ready to kick some demon ass?!” He asked with excitement. 

All the previous tension of the group vanished in an instant. With a contagious grin and a cheery cry, Hinata had made their previous fears dissolve at the idea of fighting the unknown creature.

Yachi and Yamaguchi rolled their eyes as they chuckled out lightly. Kageyama couldn’t help but let out an amused huff of air as well. The ginger certainly had a way to turn the tides of their emotions and fears from the group, replacing it with excitement and a thrill for the challenge. Even Tobio was starting to feel capable of taking out whatever this creature was.

“Ready!” The three cried out, infected by Hinata’s enthusiasm.

“Let’s get out of this stinky cave! The meat buns are on me!” He let out as a final war cry as he stormed into the tunnel, followed closely by the cries of the group cheering the prospect of their possibly close freedom.

The inside of the hallway was barely lit by whatever little light that came from its entrance and the glowy moss covering the edges of some sections of the pathway. The green dim light showed in ghastly detail the increasing number of spiderwebs, vines and moss decorating the inner walls of the cavern. This was clearly a space that wasn’t traversed much, and the idea of why, was starting to creep into the group’s collective mind. As they were about to reach the end, Hinata signalled them to stop, clearly noticing something in the open hall connected to the tunnel.

In the center of the spacious chamber, a massive flower sprouted from the ground. It was surrounded by thick vines that emerged from within its bottom, possibly the plant’s roots. The petals of the flower didn’t look healthy in color, being musky greens, brown oranges and blacks the predominant pigments around them in diverse patterns and markings. The idea that the plant’s colors were signalling the toxicity of its petals was not something out of the realm of possibilities. As to how the flower was still alive and certainly thriving in a place devoid of any natural light, was a mystery to the group. It only helped to add to the dreading feeling that the plant was definitely something from the supernatural and dangerous kind.

“What is that?” Hinata asked as the group dared venture closer.

“It looks like a flower?” Yachi replied. “I’ve never seen one like that though, nor a demon with those characteristics either.” 

“Maybe it just sprouted here to feed on the emotions of the students? Kind of like a remote feeding source?” Yamaguchi theorized, not knowing if that was even possible. 

“What if this is the object the demon is using to create the curse?” At Kageyama’s words, the group turned to look at him in surprise. “What?” 

“Nothing! It’s just that I’m surprised that you are keeping up with everything!” Hinata replied enthusiastically. “Even with the fighting! I’m really impressed! I was kind of expecting that you were going to be a total hindrance, in all honesty.” 

“What?!” Kageyama let out offendedly. “Well, excuse me for being such a drag.” He scoffed loudly.

“It was a  _ compliment _ Kageyama!” Hinata rebutted back as Yachi and Yamaguchi snickered at their back.

“Well, you certainly didn’t make it sound like one, now did you?” Kageyama huffed as he stomped closer to Hinata, ready to smack the Kami on the head.

Hinata was about to remark something else when a loud gasp from Yachi stopped the words from coming out of his mouth.

“Look!! There’s someone there!” She pointed at the flower with apprehension and fear, while the rest of the group huddled together in reflex, into a more defensive position. 

On the center of the humongous flower, they spotted what appeared to be a femenine figure laying in between the green, sickly looking pistils of the plant. She seemed to be a tall dark haired girl, wearing the same uniform as Yachi, in addition to a pair of thin framed glasses. A small beauty mark was painted perfectly under her mouth. She was kneeling there, tending to the plant’s stems in silence and motions so slow, that her swaying hair was the only telltale sign of her being more than a statue. 

“Kyoko-san?” Yachi asked with certain doubt as she thought she recognized her. “What is she doing here?”

The girl remained silent, but this time, she turned to look at them, eyes blank and devoid of emotion, looking as lifeless as she had before. 

“Yachi, you know her?” Yamaguchi asked, getting tenser by the second.

“She’s a girl from school, she’s two years my senior.” She said as she pushed a bit closer to the other student, the others following her actions. “Kyoko-san, can you hear me? Are you okay? We are here to help.”

Yachi was about to close the remaining distance between them and the flower, when Hinata grabbed the blond girl’s wrist in warning. Yachi turned with questioning eyes, wanting to know why the ginger was stopping her to check on the probably injured girl.

“I don’t like this.” He said in warning. “There is something wrong here.”

“But Hinata, if we don’t do something-”

“So you are the pests lurking about my lair?” The feminine and sweet voice was a shock to the group. They jumped in place as they turned quickly towards the direction of its source. 

“Kyoko-san?” Yachi let out as she stepped back, trying to recover her previous distance between her and the girl who apparently had come back to life.

Kyoko chuckled softly before taking all the intruders with intense glaring eyes. A crippling chill washed down Kageyama’s spine as the tall girl grinned with too many teeth to seem natural. 

“You have saved me the trouble of looking for you.” Her voice dropped as she stood up from her spot and slowly placed herself in the center of the blooming flower. “You can’t imagine the bother it is to move my body through these walls.” She shrugged one shoulder as she chuckled again, but this time, her laugh turned rough and dissonant. Sporting the same chilling grin, Kyoko placed her hand on one of the pale green pistils as she directed her glare at the group of teenagers once more. 

Almost as if answering the gesture of the girl, the flower’s petals started to move, prompting the orange haired Kami to pull Yachi behind him as he shoved his hand defensively in front of the group to shield them in instinct.

“Everyone, on your guards!” Hinata yelled as he reached for the divine instrument at his back. 

Immediately after, the earth at their feet started to rumble and crack. The walls of the cave started to give way, dropping rocks and rubble as the group tried to keep their balance. Kageyama gasped as the flower kept on moving, slowly peeling itself off the ground to encircle and close around Kyoko, who kept on cackling as she let herself get surrounded and trapped in a bud of sturdy, meaty looking petals. 

“Kyoko senpai!” Yachi cried out. Still shocked as she was, Yachi couldn’t make sense of how and why her schoolmate was involved in all this. There should be an explanation. Kyoko had never shown any kind of demonic or spiritual tendencies.

Yachi’s dumbfoundedness was cut short though, as she shut herself up at the sight now coming from the other side of the bulb. Slowly, but surely, eight shadowy long limbs started to rise from underneath the base of the flower. From the same hole in the ground where the flower had started to rise up, eight arms were forcing their way out of the solid surface, cracking and snapping the vines that tangled and latched on them as they searched their freedom. 

“What is that?!” Kageyama cried out as Yamaguchi and Hinata huddled together, blocking the humans from the unfurling demon in front of them.

Any reply that could have followed, died at the resounding echo of something slamming the cavern’s solid ground. The impact almost toppled Kageyama over, but it was enough to make the whole cavern shake and rumble with even more intensity. As debris started to fall on their heads, Hinata extended his mirror, encasing the group under his protection. Just in time to shield them from the never ending slamming of the rest of the demon’s palms against the ground. The echoing clanking sound of rocks, pebbles and plants bouncing off the mirror’s glass surface, was a reminder of how they could have been squashed under the falling rubble if the Kami had taken even a second longer.

From under their shield, Kageyama could only gap in shock and fear at the gigantic creature rising in front of them. The flowery bud was lifted from the ground, held in the air by eight long bluish arms and hands supporting the weight of the cocoon coming from what, he guessed, was a torso that was just out of his view, hidden behind the humongous cupped flower. He clutched his barely weapon tightly, pretending that it would be enough to go against the demon that had just sprouted from the ground. 

“Who are you?” Hinata demanded without even the slimmest shake in his voice.

Kageyama looked at Hinata in shock. How was the short boy even standing his ground so proudly and fierce? Was Hinata really that powerful that he wasn’t even fazed by the nightmarish vision in front of them? Or was he just cocky? He remembered Yachi’s words, but Kageyama was sure that he would not be going to be of any help with just his pointy stick in a battle with a creature as humongous as that one. Tobio could only hope that the ginger had the actual power and prowess to back up his challenge.

“Sticking your nose where it does not belong will get you killed, little god.” The creature replied back in amused provocation. The voice was no longer the sweet and soft tones of the girl from before, rather, it seemed more a growl than a voice, irking every single hair on Kageyama’s body. “I won’t let you interfere with my master’s feeding grounds any longer.”

With surprising agility for a creature of that size, the beast crouched before taking into the air, spinning his body and landing face front to the group of youngsters. 

Kageyama had never been a fan of spiders, but the creature now chuckling at them was far worse than any nightmare he may have ever had. The face resembled Kyoko’s own, though it didn’t have eyes nor a nose, just a wide grinning red lipped mouth with pointy sharp teeth and two tusks sprouting from its sides. Under said mouth, the same beauty mark decorating its chin. The head of the monster was covered by long straight hair cascading down its face and neck, held in place by a white thin cloth band across its forehead. The creature appeared to be wearing a white silk kimono like robe, from which its eight long arms sprouted from the side of its torso. The eight sleeves ended past the arm’s elbows, revealing the rotten unappealing flesh of the demon. The hands supporting the creature’s weight were pointing inwards; as if the beast’s wrists had been twisted in the wrong direction. The flowery bud sprouting from the creature’s abdomen, finished the horrifying arachnid appearance of the demonic spider queen.

The spider gave a step forward and then another, shaking the walls of the cavern with each pounding of its hands. Cackling and opening its jaws in a playful and menacing manner. Savoring the idea of a fresh batch of flesh and bones.

“Speak your last words, _tiny_ _god_.” The spider mocked. “The flesh of your kin may not be on my menu, but I think I can make an exception for you.” It chuckled as it lapped its tongue around its lips. “What kind of host would I be if I didn’t greet my guests as such.” The spider leaned in closer, taking a sniff at the huddled bunch. “I’ll leave your bones though. They will be the perfect snack for my master’s celebratory feast.”

Kageyama grabbed onto Hinata’s shoulder tightly, scared of whatever the ginger may or may not say. He noticed how at his side Yachi was huddling a bit closer, taking refuge behind the two Kami as well. He couldn’t help the feeling of relief at seeing her as frightened as he felt.

“I hope your master chokes on them, then.” Hinata growled back. 

The spider recoiled at the insult, clearly shocked at the rude words of the ginger. It let out a snarl as it lowered its face towards Hinata, snapping its tusks in defiance.

“Aren’t you the cocky one?” The creature mocked with roaring laughter. “I’ll show you what happens to those that step out of line.” The beast tipped its head and upper body upwards, gathering a white substance in its mouth and spit it towards them.

Thanks to their quick reflexes, Yamaguchi launched himself just in time, slicing the sticky web projectile and deflecting it so it wouldn’t hit the group, while Hinata set the mirror in front of the other remaining to stop whatever leftover projectiles were to hit them. 

The spider locked onto the group behind the mirror. With the shield finally out of the way and now in front of the group, the demon was taking in the rest of the members previously hidden by the mirror. “Have it your way then.” The monster chuckled amusedly. “If you do not plan on behaving and staying still, I’ll just eat the snacks you brought in first.”

Hinata turned to look at Yachi and Kageyama, wide eyes in his fearful expression, checking them up to see if they were okay. For the first time since they had set foot on the cave, Kageyama noticed Hinata’s faltering hands. Was it possible that Hinata was scared after all? That all his previous bantering and playful jokes had been a way to cope with his own fear? Could it be that it wasn’t that Hinata wasn’t scared, but that he had to  _ show _ that he wasn’t? Was he trying to show confidence for Yachi and Kageyama’s sake? 

Right in that second something clicked in Tobio’s mind. Hinata  _ was scared _ , but not for his own demise. Hinata was a god, he had power, he was a  _ divine being _ , he would probably reincarnate if things came to the worst. Yachi wouldn’t. Kageyama wouldn’t. If the boy made a mistake and the demon ended up killing any of them... Kageyama had the feeling that someone as Hinata wouldn’t be able to let it go. 

“Run!” Hinata cried out, snapping Kageyama out of his thoughts.

With a low start, Tobio grabbed Yachi’s wrist and sprinted towards the tunnel’s entrance with Yachi in tow. He was halted almost immediately by one of the spider’s hands lunging towards them and Yachi’s screams at the upcoming terror.

The loud hammering noise of the creature’s claws against Hinata’s parrying shield, combined with the strained sounds the Kami was grunting from the effort it took to keep the mirror between them and the demon’s continuous attempt to snatch the two humans, were the hard reality check that Kageyama needed to focus on the precarious situation they were in. The second source of even more aggressive echoing sounds and desperate huffs of air, had Kageyama glancing at their other possible savior locked in a battle between Yamaguchi’s own deflecting blade and the continuous swatting limbs of the spider. 

Yamaguchi let out a frustrated loud groan. “It keeps blocking my sword! I can’t do any damage over here!”

Hinata repelled another attempt of the spider before shouting at Yamaguchi. “It must have a weak spot!” He turned to Yachi between strained breaths, the girl nodded in understanding. “I’ll be your shield, Yachi.”

“On it!” Yachi dropped to her knees and rummaged through her backpack, taking out an intricate set of paper slips with unfamiliar kanjis. She spread them on the ground as she recited words so quickly that they turned into mumbles in the other’s ears.

Yamaguchi’s long broadsword kept on countering the relentless lashing out from the spider’s limbs. Having the fight being held in two different fronts was making the creature’s movements more erratic and less precise. “Why don’t you just give up! I have more hands than you have weapons!” The beast cackled in amusement. 

A fierce strike from Yamaguchi’s sword finally cut in flesh, making the beast shriek in pain.

“I’m getting tired of you.” The spider hissed angrily.

The demon shoved one of its hands directly against Hinata’s mirror and left it there, pushing its palm against the solid shield over the Kami’s head. Once Hinata had been successfully pinned down, the spider tilted its huge body, placing most of its weight on the struggling Kami, successfully immobilizing him as the creature lured an unsuspecting Yamaguchi closer by stepping backwards.

“Getting scared with a little cut, are you now?” Tadashi mocked as he pursued the retreating demon.

The spider chuckled before lunging two hands at Yamaguchi, who deflected them with ease before he locked himself in a flurry of blows between him and the demon’s relentless limbs. The beast muffled a grin. Now that the rat Kami was within reach of her back limbs, the spider used the remaining freehands to increase the pressure and speed of its attacks, resulting in Yamaguchi swinging his blade just to defend himself from the relentless attacks of the spider. 

With precise movements, the spider queen reeled back one more time, gathering its web and spitting it at Yamaguchi, who managed to leap out of the way, creating the opening the demon hoped to achieve.

“So predictable.” The demon groaned in pleasure.

“Yamaguchi-!” Hinata managed to barely cry out, as the efforts to keep the shield from crushing him and the two humans became too much to even let out words.

Within less than a second, the monster’s hands struck Tadashi from two opposing sides. Unable to maneuver his swords in time, the beast hit Yamaguchi hard on its unprotected side, launching him with force towards the wall of the cavern. The rat Kami let out a grunt in pain as he collided against the solid walls. His sword flying out of his hand, bouncing and skidding against the slippery cold floor, completely out of his reach.

Yamaguchi plummeted on the vines below with a groan. He quickly snapped his head up to look for his missing sword, but before the Kami could have a second to assess his surroundings, the huge spider squashed the battered Yamaguchi with its claws before cupping it around his pinned body. Cackling at its prey, the beast raised the struggling Kami towards its mouth while it kept Hinata busy and immobile under the pressure of its huge body.

Hinata’s chest tightened as he felt his strength about to leave his body. He couldn’t let the shield drop. The dreading thought of letting one of the hands of the spider through because of his panic didn’t help with his faltering muscles. He needed a chance. A second of respite so he could do something, anything to free Yamaguchi from the claws of the demon.

“Who is laughing now, little god?” The spider mocked as it lapped its tongue around its lips eagerly.

Kageyama couldn’t look. His heart was beating erratically against his throat. If Yamaguchi were to be eaten, there was no way that they would be able to defeat the spider. Hinata would succumb to the monster’s strength and weight. Yachi’s prayers wouldn’t be of any help if there were no Kamis to strike the weak spot in the first place. And what was he doing to help their situation?  _ Nothing _ . He was just waiting his turn to be gobbled up by the monster.

“Tadashi!!” Yachi shrieked as the jaws of the spider opened menacingly to gobble up the restrained rat Kami.

With a resolve he only dreamed of ever mustering, Kageyama held onto his spear and stepped out of the protection of Hinata’s shield. He turned on his heels and thrusted his weapon against the hand of the monster, piercing the flesh and making the beast recoil and screech in pain. 

The spider’s roar echoed in the chamber as it furiously lunged one of its other free limbs at Kageyama, but before it could make contact, a loud pounding noise interrupted all movements from the demon.

Kageyama fell on his knees as the adrenaline that had prompted him into action melted away in seconds. His jaw locked open as he let out ragged breaths. His brain had trouble understanding how in the last possible moment, the head of the beast had been smacked on its side with such force, that the spider had been thrown out of balance freeing both Kami from its clutches and crashing against the floor, making the cave rumble at the shock of the body’s impact.

Hinata was in a similar state; a perfect mixture of relief and exhaustion. The Kami stood there, letting out puffs of air and staring with wide eyes at the figure of a blonde tall boy wearing square frame glasses, landing with ease and elegance at Yamaguchi’s side. The face of the newcomer was adorned with ink-like markings, similarly to the other two Kami, and in the same fashion as the other two, he was also wearing predominant white traditional clothing. The long wide sleeves of his top kimono robe were a contrast to the short pants with crimson moon details at his bottom. The huge red two-handed mace with intricate clouds and moon motifs he was holding, was now being placed to rest over his shoulder after smacking the monstrous spider with it just moments before. 

The moon Kami, Yumigami, had appeared just in the nick of time. The tall blond boy shared the same traits as the tales of the zodiac’s rabbit, making the ever capable and smart Tuskishima Kei, a sight of hope to the still shaken group.

“Tsu-Tsukki-” Hinata let out in a stammered whispered relief.

“How stupid are you?!” The blonde shouted angrily at the ginger, interrupting every word the other was about to say. “How many times do I have to come and save your ass?! Really?! Next time, if you want to kill yourself, do it in a way that does not involve everyone else, did you hear me?!”

The whole group recoiled at the scolding. Certainly not expecting to be threatened by one of their own just moments after almost being killed by the spider demon.

“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi started softly, trying to calm the other after his burst out. He was still a bit shaken after such a close call. “I was the careless one, it’s not-”

“Shut up Yamaguchi!” The blond cried out. “I’m equally mad at you here!” He huffed in anger. “If I had been a second later, who knows what could have happened?!” 

Yamaguchi sagged his shoulders in defeat. “I’m sorry, Tsukki.” Tadashi knew this was the way that the broody tall boy showed his affection and care. He wasn’t really angered or meant the words thrown at the ginger. Tsukki had just been really worried and probably, equally as scared.

“Tsukki!” Hinata cried out happily, clearly unfazed by the harsh words the blond had thrown at him before. “Why-How are you even here?!” 

The blonde clicked his tongue irritated. “Only irresponsible idiots enter a cursed zone before informing the troopers of their locations.” He glared at the ginger. “And even more of an idiot, the ones who get trapped without even asking for backup!”

Tsukishima wasn’t about to tell them that, after he had refused to take part in Yachi’s attempt to subdue Hinata’s stupid morning whatever he had going on, he had immediately regretted it. Tsukki feared that, being Hinata the one involved, things would probably have gone awry. 

The blond was  _ definitely _ not going to admit that after casually texting to ask Yamaguchi about how things had gone and not receiving a reply for about an hour, his panicked lizard brain went to overprotective guilty mode and with gritted teeth and a horrible attitude, he had made his way to the school only to find the active cursed zone and no signs of the two Kami anywhere. 

He hated to be the responsible one. He hated to be the one who had to make sure Hinata wouldn’t choke on his own spit. It was a tedious job, and even if Hinata continuously made it clear that he didn’t need it,  _ or wanted it _ , Tsukishima had to admit that it was necessary. That he was glad it was his job after all.

They should be thankful, really. Hinata should be praising Tsukki’s effort and showing his gratefulness by trying not to get killed whenever the moon God wasn’t around. He scoffed. But if he were to admit any of this, it would show that Tsukki  _ actually _ cared, and that ensuring the bright orange haired Kami’s well being was something more than just his job. Not happening. Tsukishima had learned the hard way to avoid displaying any type of affection in front of his so-called friends. 

The incoming groans of the monster regaining its senses made them tense immediately. With a loud growl, the demon removed the piercing spear from its hand and tossed it to the ground with anger before smashing it to splinters with another one of its hands. Their precious seconds of relief were over. They had to re-focus on what they had to do. 

“Instead of asking questions, how about you start being useful and stop wasting time instead?” Tsukishima grunted as he dropped the mace from his shoulder to the ground, turning to face the struggling spider.

“How  _ dare _ you hit my precious face.” The angered voice of the spider queen made everyone in the room resume their battle stances. The creature slowly untangled itself from the ground, pounding the cavern’s floor with every hand that pushed its body back up. The demon screeched loudly at the air, its tusks opened and closed several times in a threatening manner as the angered spider directed its eyeless glare at the blond Kami. “I’ll make you all pay for that.”

The group glared back collectively as their answer. Yamaguchi stretched out his hand, recalling his discarded sword and readied it to resume his attack on the demon. Tsukishima lifted the mace and grabbed it tightly with both of his hands, while Hinata stepped forwards, shield raised to protect the still working Yachi who was now tying one of her paper slips to a red wooden arrow with white paper feathers.

“Leave the head to me.” Tsukishima crouched in anticipation. “I’ll distract it until we figure out its weak spot.” He said with confidence.

Kageyama wasn’t sure if it was the presence of another Kami fighting on their side, if it was the fact that they had seen the spider actually taking some damage or maybe it was the thrill of taking on such a big opponent, but the mood in the cave had transformed from desperation to one of expectation and determination. Even he had been infected by the feelings and aura coming from the gods.

As if they shared the same collective mind, the three gods sprinted towards the incoming beast. Their clashing resounded with an echo across the cavern as the spider dodged and attacked, deflecting the blows of the three Kami at the same time. Having diverted the attention of the spider before had barely been effective, but now, with three different flanks being targeted, its many limbs were almost not enough to keep the gods at bay. 

_ Almost _ . 

There was a reason for the monster to be the master of the lair after all. The beast wasn’t backing off. If anything, the continuous attacks were starting to be less and less effective and the demon was getting too good at blocking any attempt of the leaping moon Kami at hitting its head again. 

“Kageyama!” Yachi called his name, snapping him out of his locked trance at watching the unfolding battle. “Help me with this!” She gave him the arrow she had been working on. “I need you to throw it at the demon for me. I need to keep this stance for this to work.” She said as she kneeled and repositioned her fingers in an elaborate hand gesture. 

Kageyama nodded and turned to the beast, his heart beating wildly against his chest as he held the arrow tightly and expectantly. “I’m ready!”

Yachi inhaled deeply and slowly, regaining her focus. “Now!” She yelled.

Kageyama threw the blessed arrow at the direction of the monster. With a never flauntering speed or direction, the shining projectile flew straight at the back of the monster, piercing the flower bud and disappearing inside it.

The spider cried out in pain as a sudden light burst from within the bud, making the spider falter for a second, allowing Tsukishima to land another hit across the spider’s monstrous head.

“Insolent humans!” The demon screeched as it swatted away the attempt of Hinata and Yamaguchi to land a hit against its arms before the beast could recover from the blow to its head. “You’ll regret this!”

With alarming speed, the spider rushed across the cavern in the direction of the two humans. Yachi jolted in alarm but Kageyama’s fight or flight instincts kicked in before his brain could even process it. He had to protect Yachi. Grabbing the girl’s wrist and pulling her to her feet, he ran in the opposite direction, towards the tunnel entrance and out of the spider’s long arms reach. 

Kageyama could hear at his back how Yamaguchi’s grunts at another unsuccessful blow and Hinata’s attempt to stop the demon’s rampage were not enough to slow the advance of the creature. With his heart at his throat and a tight hold on Yachi’s wrist, he managed to cross the tunnel’s entrance, throwing himself and Yachi into the safety of the smaller cavern pathway. 

The body of the spider, unable to stop itself in time, crashed against the entrance’s wall, shaking the cavern at impact. By fate alone, Kageyama and Yachi weren’t trapped from the very possible collapse of the architecture at the creature’s collision. They hold onto each other as they step backwards, amidst rubble, dirt and falling debris, further and further away from the demon’s scratching claws, trying violently and furiously pry open the entryway. 

“Get out of there and let me eat you!” The creature roared.

“Hey, Demon!” The confident voice of Hinata came from across the room. “I wouldn’t give my back to us if I were you.” 

Kageyama wasn’t sure, but from the space between the spider’s limbs, he could see Hinata holding what appeared to be a long pole. It appeared to be made of wood and gold, just by how it glimmered against the bioluminescence of the cavern, and when the Kami placed it on his lips, the sound of beautiful music started playing. 

It wasn’t that Kageyama was surprised by the fact that Hinata had materialized a wooden freaking flute out of thin air, or the fact that he was actually very good at playing it. What had Kageyama freaking out in those moments, was the fact that Hinata was  _ playing a musical instrument _ in the middle of a death or life skirmish with a very dangerous, very deadly monster.

“Of course!” Yachi gasped thrilledly. “Bokuto’s Greensprout!” 

“What?” Kageyama tried to ask, but the sudden yelps of alarm from the spider queen got him equally startled and confused. Kageyama gaped in shock as the figure of the spider seemed to get slowly dragged from the tunnels’ wall and towards the center of the hall. The monster’s arms and claws were struggling for purchase, getting every second farther and farther away from Kageyama and Yachi’s reach. 

Things got even weirder when Kageyama noticed the sprouting of all kinds of vines and greenery from the ground, walls and even from within the tunnel’s surface. In unison with the roots and vines already on the floor of the caver, they were sliding and growing, snaking their way towards the demon, grabbing and holding in place every limb of the spider. It was as if the plants were alive, growing and moving with purpose and determination. All of them, at the tones and rhythms of Hinata’s music.

Hinata changed the melody of the song he was playing and immediately after, the rumbling of the rocks in the ceiling preceded the falling of rocks and the cracking of the stones, as more trapped vines made their way through the solid surface, bursting through and slithering down to grab onto the flowery bud from the already pinned demon.

“No! Stop! Don’t!” The demon shrieked in clear desperation. “You will regret this! I’m going to kill you all!” The creature cursed, struggled and trashed, but the thick vines kept it in place.

The flowery cocoon was pried open by the vines from the ceiling, revealing the gruesome looking pistils and the now unconscious girl trapped within. From within the pistils, perched on a round black stem, the red wooden arrow shined brightly for all of them to see.

“How..?” Kageyama asked in shock, turning to Yachi for answers to questions he didn’t know how to ask. “Hinata?” 

Yachi leaned on his shoulder for support. She was still recovering from their sprint and the massive amount of energy needed to cast and summon the blessed arrow. With some effort Kageyama managed to stabilize her as she stared at the trio of gods surrounding the wrestling demon. 

“Hinata is no ordinary Kami, Kageyama. He is the incarnation of Amaterasu, the sun Goddess.” Yachi let out in between breaths. Kageyama kept his gaze on the girl, hoping she would continue her explanation. “The power from the other Kami comes from Amaterasu’s own. Hinata’s mirror can reflect every divine instrument and use part of its power.” Remembering their discussion from yesterday, she added quickly. “It will never have the same power as the real Kami, of course, but it will be strong enough to accomplish this kind of thing.”

Kageyama turned to look at the scene in front of him. The whole cavern was twisting and turning, with vines coming from every single direction. Holding and pinning down a massive demon in place as to make it screech and roar in desperation for its life. If this was a fraction of the power a Kami held, Kageyama was sure impressed at such Kami.

“Yamaguchi! Destroy the core! Tsukki, take out the girl! I’ll keep it steady!” Hinata let out with a strained voice. Apparently just holding the vines in place and keeping them from snapping was taking all the strength from the small Kami.

Tsukishima made his way towards the blooming flower. He was careful to avoid the violent shaking limbs of the demon, trying to lessen the strain it was giving Hinata to just keep the spider from rising back up again. The blond got to the girl and picked her up, just in time for a guttural groan from the demonic spider that almost threw Tsukishima off the monster’s back.

“Keep it steady Hinata!” The blond scolded out as he stepped off the splayed bud with the girl safely in his arms.

“Just get it done with!” Hinata groaned back with a hiss.

“You’ll regret this! My master will seek revenge!” The demon warned in a high pitch scream as Yamaguchi closed in on the creature, his sword lagging behind his long strides.

Hinata moaned loudly in pain as the thunderous snap of vines made Kageyama tighten in fear of what could happen if the demon broke free. He held onto his breath as one of the spider’s arms emerged from the sea of vines to halt Yamaguchi’s advance. But the rendering god was prepared. With only one obstacle in his way, the Kami ducked in time, slashing the arm of the creature with his broadsword, clearing the way as the spider hollered in pain. Without losing his pace, Yamaguchi reached the bud and with one broad and precise movement, he sliced through the stems of the blooming flower as if they were butter. The sliced top half followed the movement of the Kami’s sword, flying to the air before falling with squelching sounds over the green sea of vines all around. 

The beast let out a deafening screeching cry that left everyone in the room flinching as its echo roared in the silence of the cavern. Everyone held onto their breaths expectantly as black mist started to gush out from the cut pistils and dispersed into the air. 

“You…” The beast growled and slurred his words in pain as its body started to turn as black as the mist that had sprouted from its flower. “This… isn’t … over…” The monster wheezed, directing its creepy faceless face at the trio of Kami. “My … master… will… get… you…” 

They glared back, still and alert. They had been trained to never let their guards down. Slowly, but surely, all the movements and struggles from the monster came to a final stop and remained unmoving, only for the creature to turn as dark as ink and silent as a rock, until the only perceivable noises in the room became the three Kami's own ragged breaths. 

When the body of the monster finally dissolved in a flurry of pale pink petals, the group melted in place. All their adrenaline finally wearing off and leaving heavy limbs and bruised butts as they fell on the floor in exhaustion. Hinata’s head hung back, chortling at the scene. 

With doubtful relief, Kageyama helped Yachi to walk closer to the other three friends, all in different states of bewilderment and relief. 

“We- we did it.” Yamaguchi barely let out as he collapsed on the floor. “We were so underprepared for this.” He whined out pitifully, stretching his tired legs.

Hinata chuckled at that. “No kidding! It was a close one!”

“You almost got Yamaguchi killed, Hinata!” Tsukishima scolded as he placed the unconscious girl on the floor delicately. “You shouldn't be laughing about your incompetence!”

“But he didn’t!” Hinata let out too cheerily for their circumstances. “Actually, if it wasn’t for Kageyama, you may have been late Tsukki. So we should be thanking  _ him _ .”

Tsukishima just clicked his tongue in reply, clearly too proud to admit that what Hinata had said was actually true. “Whatever. It’s still your fault for being so careless, Hinata.”

Kageyama scowled at that. What was the blond’s problem? It’s not like Hinata had wanted for Yamaguchi to almost get killed. It was obvious that nobody did, so why the need to rub salt in the wound? He honestly wasn’t liking this guy at all. He seemed cocky, bratty and his attitude was rubbing Kageyama completely the wrong way. Sure, Tsukki or whatever the guy was called had come to save them. With just the pounding of his mace alone, he had knocked the monster to its side and given them the much needed break they were looking for, but the way he acted all superior and smug about it? It was definitely not the type of personality Kageyama would have associated with their savior.

Hinata chuckled before turning to look at the scowling tall human. “Kageyama! Thanks for saving Tadashi!!” Hinata ignored once again the glowering from Tsukishima. “I can’t believe you did that!”

Kageyama was infected by the compliment, improving his mood and raising the need to tease Hinata. He gave the Kami one of his smirks, a little trace of smugness showing off with it.

“Weren’t you the one telling me I would be a hindrance?”

Hinata snorted in surprise. “Come on! I was joking, Kageyama!” He whined loudly as the others snickered. “Can’t you just let it go?”

“Thank you Kageyama.” Yamaguchi called from his sitting spot. “You are a lifesaver.” He giggled at his own joke as Tsukishima rolled his eyes even harder.

Yachi chuckled with him as she gently pressed her hands on Kageyama’s forearm, grateful for his display of bravery in saving her very important person. “See? We protect each other.” She grinned at Kageyama as they finally got back to the others. The boy couldn’t help the tight chest of pride at the other's words. It was an amazing feeling, one he could definitely get used to.

Yachi let go of Kageyama in favor of walking towards the unconscious girl on the floor. The blond girl kneeled over the vines on the floor at the side of her schoolmate, while a worried glance was casted onto her face. “Kyoko-san, can you hear me?”

“Should we be this close to her?” Kageyama asked apprehensively as their attention was dragged once more to the unconscious girl. “Wasn’t she inside a  _ demon _ ?”

Everyone shared a worried look. It was the first time they had met a case like this. If the girl had  _ been _ the demon or had been tied to it, her body would have disappeared the moment the monster collapsed. But here she was, still breathing for all they knew. How was a human here? What kind of connection did she have with the demon from before?

“How do you know her?” Tsukishima broke the silence, directing his question towards Yachi first. 

“Her name is Shimizu Kiyoko. She has been helping me with my math assignments.” Yachi replied nervously. “She has never shown any ability for the spiritual arts. I would have noticed it.” The girl squeezed the hand of the unconscious girl tightly. 

“Why would she be posing as the demon, then?” Yamaguchi had come closer to them, leaving his big sword resting on a vine nearby. “Is she connected to the spider somehow?”

“I don’t know!” Yachi was quick to answer with a worried tone. “She is really sweet and nice! I can’t even come with an idea as to why she is even here!” Yachi looked at Yamaguchi with troubled eyes, hoping that he would make things better. “Is she going to be alright?” 

Yamaguchi gave her back a soft smile, trying for reassurance but not really having the answers to her questions.

“How does a human with no spiritual gift get sucked into a cursed zone?” Hinata asked the real question from where he was sitting, too tired to move closer. “Did she tell you something unusual, Yachi? Something that may give us a clue?”

Yachi pondered for a second, recalling all their conversations that could lead to something useful before answering. “The only thing that comes to mind is her mentioning something about the track field club. She told me she had been having a rough time, but never told me why.”

Kageyama let out a sigh of frustration. There were so many things that even the gods didn’t know about their situation. He felt a sudden pang in his stomach, recalling that they were probably way past lunch time. Kageyama could do with a milk drink right now. He took a glance around, the stone cold walls all over greeting them back. His scowl deepened.

“Huh.” He remarked out loud, getting everybody's attention. “Why is that the school has not returned to normal?” Kageyama asked, trying not to sound too worried about the issue. “Didn’t we kill the demon?”

The group looked at each other for a second, realization dawning on them.

“No way.” Yachi gasped in horror. “Don’t tell me that  _ that  _ wasn’t the real demon?” 

“No! It had to be, right?!” Yamaguchi replied in alarm. “There is no way two demons with that amount of power would share the same lair. Is it?”

“You are making everyone nervous, Yamaguchi.” Tsukishima scolded in his flat tone of voice before turning to the group. “Believe me, if there was another demon with that amount of power here, the size of this dungeon would have been at least double.” Tsukishima fixed his glasses as he placed a hand under his chin. “The demon mentioned a master, right? Seeing that the curse was not lifted from the school, the most possible scenario is that this demon was just the protector of this place. Not its creator.” 

There was a visible tension building in the group. Between their uncertainty, the unconscious girl and the mysteries revolving the events, there were enough reasons to become anxious.

Hinata gave out a loud sigh. There was no point in growing anxious about this. They just had to find out where the curse was emanating from, before the real master of this place came to check up on its missing guardian. 

“Well, no point in dragging this anymore than we should then.” Hinata said in a more upbeat tone, trying to suck in everyone around his new cheery attitude. “The object must be here around somewhere. Eyes open! There are a lot of vines to go through!”

“What should we be looking for?” Kageyama asked, glancing around.

“Maybe something connected with the school?” Yachi ventured. “It would make sense in order to hold a stronger bond.”

“Not necessarily. It may have to do with the demon itself.” Yamaguchi offered. “Whatever it is, it should have a distinctive mark.”

“And signs of demonic possession!” Hinata chirped in as he hopped trying to avoid some of the vines as he made his way around the cave.

_ Demonic possession? _ That sounded awfully vague to Kageyama. He looked at the ground as he imagined a chair glaring angrily back at him. With a pensive glare, he landed his sight on the unconscious girl on the floor, feeling oddly pulled to the still sleeping figure. 

“Kageyama?” Yachi came to interrupt his lingering scowl. “Something’s the matter?”

It’s not like Tobio had intended to have his eyes set on the girl for longer than a second, but for some reason he felt oddly attracted to the dark haired girl. Like if something was calling him from within the girl’s body and he just couldn’t look away from it.

“Do you feel that?” He asked Yachi instead.

“Feel what, Kageyama?” Yachi asked, looking down at Kyoko as well.

“There is something around her. Or like inside her?” He said, unsure. He came to kneel by Kyoko and stretched his hand towards the girl, retracting it back quickly as in fear of losing it if it lingered too close to the girl. “Do you feel it?” He glanced up to Yachi, who had remained by the girl’s side to start inspecting her for injuries.

Yachi closed her eyes and focused on Kyoko. Silently listening to her breathing, to the energy coming from her. The blond girl remained focused, matching her breath to Kyoko’s own, getting all the different changes in the girl’s breathing patterns.

She felt it.

Like a pull, like an oppressive hand trying to grab Yachi’s own powers. It wasn’t a typical demonic possession. It was the source of the curse itself, the void that kept on sucking all the energy, good or bad, that managed to filter from the thin walls between the realms.

She gasped loudly, jolting upwards as she tried to get away from the sleeping girl. How had Tsukishima not noticed it when he had grabbed the girl before? How did Kageyama recognize it so quickly? There would be times for questions later, right now they needed to focus on what to do with Kyoko.

“Guys!” She cried out, breaking the lingering silence and grunts from the god’s search. “It’s Kyoko! I think the curse is coming from her!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh lordy lord.. It took me forever to finish this chapter! I’m so sorry about the wait! I had it almost finished like two weeks ago and then bam, writer's block and grad school never ending assignments. Anyways, I hope you liked it! I’ll be cutting it around here as it is already 9k words. Hope to see you in the next one!
> 
> Follow me on Twitter! @Eguko_fics
> 
> Bestiary:  
> Spider Queen: This demon is based on the Jorōgumo, a spider monster that can disguise itself as a human, seducing men so it can trap and eat them. In Okami, however, it's a large arachnid monster incapable of taking damage unless you pry open its hard shell, slashing the squishy core inside of it.


End file.
